FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
109 
color. The only objection to it, is the 
fact that it produces large crops of seed 
which drift a long ways when the wind 
blows hard and as they germinate readily 
they become a nuisance, unless there is a 
drouth at the time when they fall. Al¬ 
though this maple is a native of swamps 
and low land, its common name being 
swamp or soft maple, still it will grow 
well on dry soil if it is not too poor. 
Probably the next most desirable native 
deciduous tree for ornamental planting, 
is the Sweet Gum. Liquidambar styraci- 
flua. Like the maple described above, it 
is found naturally, in swamps or moist 
land, but it still more easily adapts itself 
to dry land culture and is not so depend¬ 
ent on rich soil. It is one of the most 
symmetrical trees that we have, when al¬ 
lowed space in which to develop itself 
properly. In autumn it shows the most 
brilliant coloring of any of our native 
trees. Although it is a deciduous species, 
it retains its foliage later than most spe¬ 
cies ; often the old leaves hang on until 
pushed off by the swelling of the buds 
as the new leaves open. Occasionally the 
same thing happens with the soft Maple. 
I had a small maple this season which re¬ 
tained much of last year’s foliage on the 
upper twigs, when the lower part of the 
tree was in bloom, and a few still hung 
on when the seeds were grown and the 
new leaves were more than half grown. 
I have more than a dozen of these trees 
on the place, and this spring was sur¬ 
prised to notice that there was a great 
difference in the time when they opened 
their leaves; on some the leaves would be 
almost grown, while on others not forty 
feet away, on exactly the same soil, the 
buds were but little more than fairly open. 
While on this subject of curious varia¬ 
tions in the habits of growth of trees, 
I will call attention to a fact which may 
or may not have been noticed by you. 
All evergreen trees shed their leaves, but 
usually it is done so gradually, while the 
new ones are coming, that it is not not¬ 
iced. This year some Magnolia glauca 
trees near my house shed their leaves so 
nearly all at once, that they were quite 
bare and looked for a time like deciduous 
trees; it happened just as the first flow¬ 
ers were opening, and their almost leaf¬ 
less branches showing here and there 
scattered blossoms were a striking con¬ 
trast to their usual appearance. 
Another plant, also a native, which is 
usually classed as a shrub, but which can 
easily be grown as a small tree, is the 
common Elder, Sambucus Canadensis. 
At the north it is called a weed, but here 
it is an evergreen shrub or small tree and 
is almost everblooming. A specimen on 
my own place trained to a single stem, 
stands between eighteen and twenty feet 
high with a trunk over six inches in dia¬ 
meter. It is seldom out of bloom, ex¬ 
cept for a short time in the coldest 
weather of winter. During the summer 
it usually has flowers and fruit of all 
sizes from that just formed to fully ripe 
berries, though the latter are soon taken 
off by the birds. 
Vines, especially woody perennials, are 
always favorites with all flower lovers. 
Three native hardy climbers are worthy 
of special mention. Bignona capreolate 
sometimes called Cross-vine, is perhaps 
the most showy in the early spring. The 
individual flowers are rather dull red in 
color, but when you come to a large oak 
literally covered with a sheet of Bignonia 
capreolata blossoms, it is a sight worth 
going miles to look at. I have good- 
