258 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
beautiful object in spring, especially when it is covered with its numerous bright 
purplish pink flowers, which appear before the Jeaves, and are produced not 
only from the young wood, but from wood of 6 or 8 years growth, and even 
from the trunk. The leaves are not liable to be attacked by insects. The 
flowers are succeeded by flat, thin, brown pods, nearly 6 in. in length, which 
remain on the tree all the year, and give it a very singular appearance in the 
winter season. The rate of growth is about 18 in. a year, for the first 10 years. 
The wood is very hard, and agreeably veined, or rather blotched or waved, 
with black, green, and yellow spots, on a grey ground. It takes a beautiful 
polish, and weighs nearly 48 lb. to the cubic foot. The flowers, which have 
an agreeable acid taste, are mixed with salads, or fried with batter, as fritters ; 
and the flower-buds are pickled in vinegar. In British gardens, the tree grows 
about the same height, and flowers about the same time, as the laburnum, the 
Guelder rose, and the hawthorn, and enters into beautiful combination with 
these and other trees. The foliage is hardly less beautiful and remarkable than 
the flowers ; the leaves being of a pale bluish green on the upper surface ; and 
of a sea-green underneath, and of a cordate reniform shape, apparently con- 
sisting of two leaflets joined together; which circumstance, combined with 
others, brings the genus in close alliance with that of Bauhinia. Like most of 
the Leguminacez, this tree prefers a deep, free, sandy soil, rich rather than 
poor; and it will only thrive, and become a handsome tree, in sheltered situa- 
tions. In the northern parts of the island, it requires to be planted against a 
wall; and few ornamental trees better deserve such a situation. The species 
is propagated by seeds, and the varieties by grafting. The seeds are sown on 
heat early in spring, and come up the same season ; and the plants will produce 
flowers in three or four years, 
% 2. C. CANADENSIS L. The Canada Judas Tree. 
Identification. Lin. Sp., 534.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 518. ; Don’s Mill., 2. p. 463. 
Synonymes. Siliquastrum cordatum Mench Meth.; red Bird Tree, Amer.; Gainier de Canada, 
Bouton rouge, Fr. 
Engravings. Mill. Icon., t. 2.; the plate of this species in Arb. Brit., Ist edit., vol. v.; and our 
0. 
Sig. 42 
440. Cércis canadénsis 
