The Tulip Tree. 



any blossoms have appeared, or any tree is in leaf. Clumps 

 of Black Thorns, therefore, or independent plants of this 

 kind, might be placed very advantageously in parks and 

 lawns ; and, if managed well, even in shrubberies ; for 

 they are in bloom much earlier than any other shrub. The 

 plant has so many advantages over the Hawthorn, that 

 it is impossible that it should not be cultivated, in many 

 eases, in preference to the Hawthorn, were it not for 

 the great difficulty of obtaining the seed in any considerable 

 quantity. 



THE TVXilP TREE. 



In Latin Liriodendrum ; in French Tulipier, 



515. The botanical characters are : — The proper involucrum of the flower is 

 composed of two angular leaves, which fall off ; the empalement is composed 

 of three oblong plane leaves, like petals, which fall away. The flower is 

 nearly of the bell-shape, and has six petals, which are obtuse, and channelled 

 at their base ; the three outer fall off ; it has a great number of narrow 

 stamina, which are inserted to the receptacle of the flower, having long 

 narrow summits fastened to their side, and many germen disposed in a cone, 

 having no style, crowned by a single globular stigma. The germen afterwards 

 becomes scaly seeds, lying over each other, like the scales of fish, and form 

 the resemblance of a cone. 



516. There is but one species of Tulip Tree; but that o??^, 

 as the lioness said of her Cub, is a tree indeed. This tree, 

 as an ornamental piece of vegetation, is certainly one of the 

 finest in the world. The leaf is so large, formed with such 

 singular elegance, is of so beautiful a green, preserves its 

 freshness so admirably, dies of so delicate a colour, and is in 

 such ample quantity on the tree; the flower, though not 



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