ACACIA. 41 



consecrated to the genius of chaste love. 

 These proud children of the desert are not less 

 susceptible of the pangs which Cupid occa- 

 sions, than the more polished inhabitants of 

 Europe ; nor are they less delicate in expres- 

 sing their sentiments, which, instead of flatter- 

 ing words, are told by a branch of acacia in 

 blossom. It is natural to suppose that this 

 seducing language is as well understood by 

 the young savage of the forest as by the 

 tutored coquette of the city. 



The introduction of American plants into 

 Europe made a change in the system of bo- 

 tany absolutely necessary ; for that which had 

 been arranged by Tournefort and others, was 

 found impossible to be applied to the plants 

 of the new world. This tree, when first in- 

 troduced, was supposed to be a species of 

 the acacia known in the ancient world, be- 

 cause its thorny branches and winged leaves 

 bore resemblance to the Egyptian thorn, or 

 binding bean-tree, which the Greeks called 

 Aaa^a, of azugu, to sharpen, from whence the 

 Latin acacia. But by the system of Lin- 

 naeus we discover that it cannot be ranged 

 in the same class or order as the true 

 acacia. 



It is therefore commonly called the false 

 acacia, while, in America, it is named the 



