18 
LANGUAGE AND 
symbol of friendship is the honey-locust tree, or 
three-thorned acacia. A native of North Ame¬ 
rica, remarkable for its brilliant green foliage-, 
it has been consecrated by the Indians. The 
blossoms are small, and too nearly the color 
of the leaves to produce any striking effect; but 
the pod which succeeds them being upwards of 
a foot in length, and of a dark brown color, 
contrasts curiously with the vivid hue of the 
foliage. The trunk and branches are armed' 
with large red thorns, which present a very sin¬ 
gular appearance. The Indians point their 
arrows with these thorns, and make their bows 
of this tree’s incorruptible Avood, Avhilst they 
use its blossoms as token flowers, to tell what 
words can ne’er express so well. 5 ’ 
The Rose Acacia is adopted as the type of 
elegance because ‘‘ the art of the toilet cannot 
produce anything fresher or more elegant than 
the attire of this pretty shrub. Its drooping 
branches, its gay green, its beautiful bunches 
of pink flowers, resembling boAvs of ribbon—- 
all give it the appearance of a fashionable female 
in her ball dress.” 
Under its name of locust-tree, Holmes uses 
the acacia as a symbol of mourning: 
“When damps beneath and storms above 
Have bowed these fragile towers, 
Still o’er the grave yon locust-grove 
Shall swing its Orient flowers.” 
