464 
opposite to the leaves upon long peduncles. The fruit is smaller than that of the first sort* and when 
ripe of a dark purple colour. 
It is very nearly related to the third species; * but the leaves are much broader and shorter. 
It grows naturally in North America, and in a moist rich soil becomes a very large tree. Evelyn 
says, that John Tradescant, junior, first brought it from Virginia. 
It flowers in May, and the seeds ripen in October. There are many large trees of this sort in the 
English gardens, some of which produce great quantities of fruit annually, which in favourable seasons 
come to maturity; and there are few years in which the fruit is not sent from America. 
This tree comes out late in the spring, but it is the latest in fading of any deciduous tree; nor do 
the leaves alter their colour long before they fall, but continue in full verdure till within a few days 
of their dropping off; so that the litter occasioned by the falling leaves may be soon cleared away. 
There is little beauty in the flower or fruit; but the branches being well clothed with leaves of a fine 
green colour, the trees, when mixed with others in plantations, make a pleasing variety during the 
summer season. 
The wood of this tree being tough and pliable, is esteemed by coachmakers for the frames of their 
carriages. 
Species 3. Oriental Nettle Tree . (Celtis Orientalxs.) 
This tree rises with a stem about ten or twelve feet high, dividing into many branches, which 
spread horizontally on every side, and have a smooth greenish bark. The leaves are about an inch 
and half long, and near an inch broad, inclining to a heart shape, but oblique, one side of the base 
being smaller and lower than the other; they are of a thicker texture than those of the common sort, 
and of a paler green, alternate as they are, and on short foot-stalks. Linnaeus adds, that they are 
very finely serrate, and the nerves underneath smooth. The peduncles are axillary, very short and 
branching. The fruit is oval and yellow, when fully ripe it turns to a darker colour. The wood of 
this tree is very white. 
It is a native of the Levant, and was discovered by Tournefort also in Armenia, whence he sent 
the fruit to the royal garden at Paris. The trees there raised produced fruit, and from them the 
other gardens in Europe have been furnished. Mr. Miller cultivated this tree in 174 8.f It yields a 
gum like that of the Cherry: J and is now found to be a native of the East Indies, Japan, and the 
Society Isles. 
CULTURE. 
These trees are all propagated by seeds, which should be sown soon after they are ripe, when they 
can be procured at that season, for these frequently come up the following spring, but old seeds not till a 
twelvemonth after: therefore it is the best way to sow them in pots or tubs, that they may be easily 
removed, for those which are sown in the spring should be placed in a shady situation in summer, 
and constantly kept clean from weeds; but in autumn they should be placed in a warm situation, 
plunging the pots into the ground; and if they are covered over with a little tan from a decayed hot¬ 
bed, it will prevent the frost from penetrating the earth to injure the seeds; and if these pots are 
placed on a gentle hot-bed in the spring, it will greatly forward the vegetation of the seeds, whereby 
the plants will have more time to get strength before the winter: but when the plants appear above 
* Linn. Spec. 
■f* Hort. Kew. 
X Thunb. 
