DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
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insects, we could hardly say too much in its praise as a fine 
ornament for streets and public parks. There, its regular 
form corresponds well with the formality of the architecture ; 
its shade affords cool and pleasant walks, and the delightful 
odour of its blossoms is doubly grateful in the confined air 
of the city. Our basswood has rather less of uniformity in 
its outline than the European lindens, but the general form 
is the same. 
The American lime, or basswood, ( Tilia Americana ,) is 
the most robust tree of the genus, and produces much more 
vigorous shoots than the European species. It prefers a deep 
and fertile soil, where the trunk grows remarkably straight, 
and the branches form a handsome well-rounded summit. 
The flowers are borne on long stalks, and are pendulous 
from the branches. The leaves are large, heart-shaped, finely 
cut on the margin, and terminated by a point at the extremity. 
The seeds, which ripen in autumn, are like small peas, round 
and grayish. 
The white lime, ( T. alba,) is rare in the eastern states, but 
common in Pennsylvania and the states south of it. It is 
not a tree of the largest size, but its flowers are the finest of 
our native sorts. The leaves are also very large, deep green 
on the upper surface, and white below ; they are more ob- 
liquely heart-shaped than those of the common basswood. 
The young branches are covered with a smooth silvery 
bark. This species is very common on the Susquehannah 
River. 
The Downy lime tree. ( T. pubescens.) The under side 
of the leaves, and the fruits of this species, are, as its name 
denotes, covered with a short down. Its flowers are nearly 
white ; the serratures of the leaves wider apart, and the base 
of the leaf obliquely truncated. It is a handsome large tree, 
