146 FAMILIAR TREES 



to Madeira and the Canary Islands, and from Sene- 

 gambia to Siberia. 



The five genera described as belonging to this 

 Order comprise nearly ninety species, inhabiting 

 steppes, deserts, and shores of temperate and sub- 

 tropical latitudes. The minute, scattered leaves 

 have no stipules ; the parts of their little blossoms 

 are in fours or fives, except that their stamens are 

 sometimes twice as many, or even indefinite in 

 number, and that their one-chambered ovary may 

 be ■ made up of two, three, four, or five carpels. 

 Their seeds are furnished with a plume of hairs 

 to aid in their dispersal, like those of the Willows. 



The genus Tamarix includes sixty or more of 

 the ninety species described, and has a geographical 

 range almost as wide as that of the whole Order ; 

 but many of the forms to which some botanists 

 have accorded specific rank may be little more than 

 variations produced by changing local conditions. 



T. anglica Webb is a very doubtful British plant, 

 and seldom approaches the dimensions of -a tree ; 

 but its tolerance of sea-breezes, the bright green of 

 its almost perennial foliage, contrasting with its 

 red-hued branches and its delicate little spikes of 

 pink blossom, make it a most valuable acquisition 

 to our coasts. 



Its slender branches would suggest a Willow, did 

 not the minute, closely- overlapping leaves immedi- 

 ately recall the Heaths and the Cypresses. It is 

 indeed said to be still occasionally known as "Cypress'' 

 in Cornwall, and seems to have been confused with 

 the Heaths by some of the ancient botanical writers. 



