III. 



THE LINDENS, TAMARIX AND SUMACHS. 



The term tree is, after all, a purely arbitrary dis- 

 tinction. Where the line between a tree and a shrub 

 should be drawn, opinions differ. Some of our shrubs 

 are large trees in other parts of the world more fa- 

 vorable to their growth, as for instance the sweet mag- 

 nolia, the scarlet fruited thorn, the laurel and the 

 sheep berry ; and cunning horticulturists have persuad- 

 ed many prostrate plants to simulate little trees by 

 training and pruning them. 



Prof. Sargent settles the question for his works by 

 admitting as trees only such species as grow from 

 the ground with a single stem, either wholly or over 

 a large portion of the area of their distribution. But 

 it is not necessary to be so particular in these sketch- 

 es, and there will be an inclination to let in some 

 of the shrubs if they are of interest. 



The barberry (Berberis vulgaris), so attractive along 

 the sides of our old Boston turnpike, and found 

 everywhere with us, is not known to most persons 

 as an immigrant from Europe. It was brought here 

 by the earliest colonists ; and, like the wood-wax 

 which makes our pastures gorgeous and famous every 

 July, may have been included in the list of seeds 

 brought to Salem by Endicott iu 1629. Yet, as 

 these plants never intrude upon cultivated soil, we 

 may be grateful to him for both of them, pasture own- 

 ers excepted. 



