FAMOUS TREES OF THE WORLD. 33 
The most beautiful tree of India and, it is said, of the 
world, called by the natives “Jonesia Asika,” bears a 
red flower resembling the isora, of the most wonderful 
beauty and sweetness, while the denseness of its foli- 
age is a marvel to behold. Another tree of India, the 
tamala, bears black blossoms of a most singular shape. 
The mulberry, famous the world over, shall close this 
mere mention of celebrated tree-life. Since the Baby- 
lonian lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe, in despair of the 
“course of true love running smooth,” imperilled the 
spotless white of the mulberry-blossom with their life- 
blood, this tree, with its dark-winged leaves, its san- 
guine-juiced fruit, has been sung by poets and lauded 
by scholars. 
The Morea of Greece is named from its fancied re- 
semblance to the shape of the mulberry-leaf. The Rev- 
erend F. Gastrel, of Stratford-on-Avon, has sent his name 
down to ignominious disgrace, having, in the year 1786, 
“wantonly and brutishly” cut down the favorite tree 
of Shakespeare, a mulberry planted by the poet’s own 
hands. 
The introduction of the mulberry into France for the 
food of the silkworm was bitterly opposed by the peo- 
ple, and only effected by the will of Henry IV., who fore- 
saw the great wealth to be thus gained. There is a 
pretty Oriental proverb inculcating patience and hope, 
which says: “ With time and patience each leaf of the 
mulberry becomes the softest silk.” 
The Wadsworth oak at Genesee, New York, is said to 
be five centuries old, and twenty-seven feet in circumfer- 
ence at the base. The massive, slow-growing live-oaks 
at Florida are worthy of notice on account of the enor- 
mous length of their branches. Bartram says: “I have 
stepped fifty paces in a straight line from the trunk of 
one of these trees to the extremity of the limbs.” The 
oaks of Europe are among the grandest of trees. The 
Cowthrope tree is séventy-eight feet in circuit at the 
