1190 



AKBOlllCTUM AND FKUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



drooping, white flowers. (Don's Mill., iv. p. 6.) Nearly allied to Symplo- 

 cacese. The species are among the hardier of the North American trees. 

 Both in England and Scotland, in favourable situations, they attain the height 

 of from 20 ft. to 30 ft. ; and, in the climate of London, they not only flower 

 freely, but ripen seeds in abundance. 



3: 1. H. tetra'ptera L. The four-winged^/h^ferf Halesia, or common 



Snowdrop Tree. 



hU-nHfication. Lin. Sp., 636. ; Ellis in Phil. Trans., vol. 51. p. 931. t. 22. f. A. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 6. 

 Synonymm. The Snowdrop Tree, Silver Bell Tree, Amer. 



Engravings. Curt. Bot. Mag., t. 910. ; Lodd. Bot. Cab., t. 1173. ; Cav. Diss., 6. p. 338. t. 186. ; Lam. Ill, 

 41M-. j out Jig. 1012. ; and the plate in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminated, sharply serrated. Pe- 

 tioles glandular. Fruit with 4 wings. Leaves acuminated, with the middle 

 depressed. Flowers pure white, 9 — 10 in a fascicle, 

 drooping, resembling those of the snowdrop. The 

 wood is hard and veined ; the bark is of a darkish 

 colour, with many irregular fissures. (Don's Mill., 

 iv. p. 6.) A tree, from 15 ft. to 30 ft. high, a native 

 of South Carolina, along the banks of rivers. It 

 was introduced in 1756, and flowers in April and 

 May. Its flowers are produced in great abundance ; 

 and, from their shape, colour, and pendulous ap- 

 pearance, they are considered as resembling those of 

 the snowdrop. It is one of the most ornamental 

 of the American deciduous trees, and richly deserves 

 a place in every collection. The rate of growth, for 

 the first five or six years, is 1 ft. or 18 in., or more, 

 a year ; and in ten years it will attain the height of 

 12ft., or 15ft., if properly treated; but, as it is 

 generally kept too dry, it is seldom seen at above 

 half this height at that age. It ripens seeds freely 

 in this country ; from which, or from imported seeds, it is readily increased. 

 The seeds often remain above a year in the ground. Planted singly in an 

 American ground, or in a sheltered situation in a shrubbery, or plantation, 

 this tree makes a splendid appearance in May. 



Statistics. In the environs of London, the finest specimens are at Purser's Cross and Syon House, 

 in both which places it is 30 ft. high, with a trunk from 16 in. to 18 in. in diameter. There is a very 

 singular tree at Syon, of which there is a portrait in our last Volume, the diameter of the head of 

 which is 52 ft. Another tree, at Syon, 29 ft. high, has the diameter of the head 40 ft. In Surrey, at 

 Bagshot Park, a tree, 20 years planted, is 20 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 5 in., and of the head 

 12 ft, in sandy loam. In Devonshire, at Kenton, it is 25 ft. high. In Cornwall, at Caulen Penryn, 

 20 ft. high. In Shropshire, at Willey Park, 15 years planted, it is 17 ft. high. In Staffordshire, at 

 Trentham, 26 years planted, it is 15 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 11 in., and of the head 25 ft. ; 

 at Alton Towers, 10 years planted, it is 15 ft. high ; and in the Handsworth Nursery, it is 20 ft. high, 

 with a trunk 12 in. in diameter, in loose sandy gravel. In Suffolk, at Ampton Hall, 10 years planted, 

 it is 8 ft. high. In Scotland, in Aberdeenshire, at Thainston, it grows 1 ft. a year as a standard, but 

 dies back a few inches annually. In Argyllshire, at Toward Castle, 8 years planted, it is 7 ft. high. 

 In Banffshire, at Huntly Lodge, 12 years planted, it is 12 ft. high. In Ireland, in the county of 

 Down, at Ballyleady, 20 years planted, it is 17 ft. high ; the diameter of the trunk 8 in., and of the 

 head 20 ft. In France, at Sc£aux, near Paris, 12 years planted, it is 16 ft. high ; at Nantes, in the 

 nursery of M. Do NerrRres, 19 years planted, it is 20 ft. high. In Hanover, at Schwobber, it is 30 ft. 

 high. In Prussia, in the Berlin Botanic Garden, 20 years planted, it is 10ft. high. In Italy, at 

 Monza, 24 years planted, it is 16 ft. high. 



Commercial Statistics. Price of plants, in the London nurseries, Is. 6d. 

 each ; and of seeds, 3s. a quart. At Bollwyller, plants are 2 francs each ; 

 and at New York, 50 cents. 



2 a 2. H. (t.) parviflo n ra Michx. The small-flowered Halesia, or 

 Snowdrop Tree. 

 Idt iiiijladwn. Michx. FL Bor. Amer., 2. p. 40. ; Pursh Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 450. 



Don's Mill., 4. 



Michx 



P . a 



Engravings, iS''t. Reg., t. <J52. ; andour/^. 1013. 



Spec, Char., 8f€. Leaves ovate, oblong, acute, nearly entire. Flowers octan- 

 droii-v. Fruit clavate, slightly winged. Leaves downy, glaucous beneath. 

 Racemes panicled. Flowers white, drooping. Calycine teeth ovate. (Don's 

 Mill., iv. [>. 7.) A tree, 10 ft. high, a native of Florida, introduced in 1802, 



