160 
LETTERS FROM ALABAMA, 
effect to the tree. In spring the leaves are thickly 
clothed on the under surface with a subtle down^ 
easily displaced, which being blown about in the 
air, is by some persons considered injurious to 
health. I believe it to be a groundless prejudice ; 
but yet, I have been told, it has been the cause of 
the destruction of many fine trees, of late years, in 
the northern cities, in whose streets, particularly in 
those of Philadelphia, it had been planted in rows, 
contributing much to their beauty, at least. The 
aments^ or catkins of flowers, take the form of little 
hard balls, like marbles, which in the course of 
the summer grow to an inch in diameter, perfectly 
round, hanging from long peduncles. These have 
given the name of Buttonwood to the tree. They 
fall in autumn and winter ; and, parting asunder, 
the seeds of which they are composed are wafted 
about by aid of the plumy egret with which they 
are furnished. The trunk and large branches are 
remarkably fair and smooth, of a pale green, ap- 
proaching to white, and like its congener, the 
European Plane, its bark has the singular property 
of separating and throwing off the epidermis every 
year, in broad thin laminae. The smoothness of 
the trunk offers a strong temptation to the possessor 
of a pocket-knife to carve his name on it, but the 
successive rejections of the epidermis in a few years 
entirely obliterate the inscription. The wood of 
this fine tree, though close-grained, susceptible of 
high polish, and beautiful from the size and bright- 
ness of its medullary rays, is yet almost altogether 
neglected, as it is very liable to warp, and speedily 
decays. The roots, when fresh from the soil, are of 
a brilliant red, but the tint soon fades. 
I must mention two other trees of our yard, not 
