TRAVELER S TREE 



TKAVELEK'S TKEE. ^tc lui r< luil.i . 



TREASUKE VINE. Xnmc v't"!'"''''! ''v -E E. CliiM* 

 ioi- Bidiihjoa Wcrck-lei or CliilJ.^ni Wcrclil.i. 



TREE. Candelabrum, or Chaaclelier T. 



CtinihlabniM. 



r.ni,],! 



TKEE OF HEAVEN. 



Ail.llltlln 



TEEES. Plate XLIV. Figs. -J.-wl-ioGG. What is a 

 trof ' is a que.stion to which it is not easy to i^ive a 

 short and woll-detiued answer. Tlie same species niay 

 assume a tree-lilce habit or remain slirubljy, according 

 to the climatic conditions, soil and other circumstances. 

 Usually a tree is defined as a woody plant rising from 



TREES 



1833 



more. The Se.|iioias are of nniri- majestic ami gii;antic 

 appearance Ilian tie- Eui'alyptus on account of its mas- 

 six e trunk I see Si qn,'in. p. iCiPlI). /',s', ikI'iI a ilijil I lo ii,j In .-ii 

 and J'liiiis LiiihIi, ,ii,ni,f occasionally attain :inil feet, A 

 iiundMa- of otlnr conifiTs. chieilv Annniieiii. ernw lo a 

 hoii^Pil o£ 1.">U to :!nn fret. Smne (I'r.ndnous Irei-s. as /'/«- 

 hnnis ,',■<■;,!, iiiiilh. several sp.-cios ,,f nak aiel I.imnh ,,- 

 ih-oii Tiilij,if<i;i exceed l,",Of,M-r in In-i^iit. The ,ir((uitiba 

 of Southern Brazil { Van m In i-i hqnih, one of ihe Myr- 

 taceiel is also a gigantic tree (seeBot. Ua/.. ::l. ].. ?,'>2] . 



The greatest .lianuder has been observed in Cnxhnua 

 r.sci, of which a tree with a partly deeaved trunk at 

 the foot of Jit. Etna in Sicily nie.asures more than 130 

 feet in diameter. After this 'ihe greatest diameter ob- 

 served is in 'J'lixodhiiit iinicniinil Kill . about 40 feet, 

 and in Phitnniiti oritiiUi li.-< about the same, in Sequoia 







2551. A pasture elm. 



the ground under normal conditions with a sint,^le stem 

 and attaining a certain hfight, fixed by sume at 20. \'\ 

 others at 15 feet, or even less. A more exact definition 

 has been given ]>y B. E. Ferni>w: "Trees are wtiody 

 plants the seed of which has the inherent capacity of 

 producing naturally within their native limits one main 

 erect axis continuing to grow for a number of years 

 more vigorously than the lateral axes ami the lower 

 branches dying off in time." 



Trees are the most prominent feature of the vegetable 

 world and surpass all other organic beings in lieiLrlit, 

 magnitude and longevitv. The greatest hei.ght kuo\rn 

 has been reached bv Eacihjptjts (i)})ij{/(laJiua of Aus- 

 tralia, of whic-h trees have been observed that were 470 

 feet high. In length, but not in body and longevity, 

 even thi^ tree is surpassed by some giant floating algro 

 said to attain the length of 900 feet, and by some climb- 

 ing palms of Java attaining, sometimes. GOO feet. Fol- 

 lowing Eucalyptus amygdaJiDa is probably Sfqnoia 

 sempervirens, which attains 325 feet and occasionally 



giijnnfrn X) feet, in Tn.roflhnn disficJnihi :\0 feet, and 

 somewhat less in Ada nsonia digifufa. 



The age attributed to many of the tallest trees is 

 ]>a'^ed more or less <-in sjieculation, and opinions often 

 ditfer widely. Dnirtf mi Dravc is lielieved to reach 6,000 

 years of a£;-i-, A.da)}sn,na dig//>if<i .".OOil. Taxodiiim uiu- 

 croiiiifiini and IMataiius 4.U0il, Cii /•rc.ssns se}npeyrire)is 

 and l\'.rii>: hin-r,if<i li.OOO. Castuiini satira. (Jiifrnis 

 p'.dnnciiJiitii . Sf'jiini" {/i[/iii!fi-(( and Ccdms L/bani mere 

 than '2,t)00 years. 



Although the trees are the most conspicuous features 

 of the vegetable kingdom, they represent only a small 

 percentage of it as regards the number of species. In 

 the United States, where about S.iO trees occur, they 

 represent only nltout Ti^^ per <^ent of the whole phanero- 

 gamic flora, in Europe even less. As a rule, towards 

 the tropics the number of treedike species increases, 

 towards the arctic regions it decreases. Remarkably rich 

 in trees is the flora of Japan, where the proportion of 

 trees to the whole phanerogamic flora is more than 10 



