was

not

and climbers from top to bottom, from which it in our power to disengage it *." Had the Bignonias been Europeans, we should, . doubtless, have found their beauty, celebrated in various tongues.

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ang lliw pall esmuasilo jed

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* Forster's Voyages, vol. i. p. 506. (New Zealand.)

#1 4o vert 7931 sid,derq

TULIP TREE.

LIRIODENDRUM.

MAGNOLIACEE.

POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA.

The botanical name signifies lily tree; the tree bearing liliaceous flowers. It is called by our English gardeners tulip tree. French, tulipier; Italian, tulipifero.

THE Tulip tree, Liriodendrum tulipifera, is a native of North America, where it grows to a great size, and is generally known in the English settlements by the title of Poplar. When it was first brought to this country, and for some time afterwards, it was planted in pots, and housed in winter with myrtles, oranges, &c. from a notion that it could not bear the open air; and thus treated, it grew but slowly: the first tree of the kind which bore flowers here was in the gardens of the Earl of Peterborough, at Parson's Green, near Fulham. It was there planted among other trees in a wilderness; and by the great progress it made, soon convinced the gardeners of their mistake in treating it so tenderly. From that time, they have been planted abroad, where they grow to a considerable size, especially where the soil is rather moist. This tree at Parson's Green has afforded much knowledge to the gardeners, as well in its death as in its life; for though planted in the open air, the neighbouring trees were suffered to overhang it, to shelter it from the wind; these trees robbed it of its nourishment, and in the end destroyed it.

The leaves of the Tulip tree are of a singular form, being divided into three lobes, of which the middle one is blunt, and hollowed at the point, as if cut with scissars ; the leaf is about four inches long, and about the same width near the base; the foot-stalk is of much the same length. A strong midrib runs from the footstalk along the leaf, from which branch several smaller veins, and these again break into more minute ramifications. The upper surface of the leaf is smooth, and of a fine lucid green; beneath, their colour is much paler. The flowers, which are produced at the ends of the branches, are composed of six petals, three without, and three within, forming a sort of bell-shaped flower; whence the inhabitants of North America gave it the title of Tulip, These flowers are marked with green, yellow, and red spots, and when the trees are in full flower, they have a very handsome appearance. The blossoms open in July, and when they fall, are succeeded by a kind of cone, which does not ripen in England.

Kalm observes, that it is very pleasant at the end of May to see one of these large trees with its singular leaves, covered for a fortnight together with flowers which have the shape, size, and partly the colour of Tulips. The wood is used for canoes (whence the Swedes resident in North America call it Canoe tree), for bowls, dishes, and spoons. This author mentions a barn which he saw, of considerable size, the sides and roof of which were formed of one Tulip tree, split into boards: but he says this wood is subject to one great inconvenience, for that it contracts and expands itself more than any other. The bark is pounded, and given as a medicine to horses. The' roots are supposed to be a good substitute for jesuits” bark in cases of

ague.

Mr. Marshall describes this tree as seventy or eighty feet high; and Catesby says some of them are thirty feet in circumference in America, and that the timber is used in New England for periagues; the trunk being large enough to be hollowed out into those boats, which are made of one piece, and will carry a number of men.

"This is," says Martyn, " a tree of extraordinary beauty and stateliness, and highly deserves a place in all noble and elegant plantations."

The Oriental Tulip tree, L. lilifera, is a smaller tree, with a blossom of nine petals, a native of China.

* * ***

SANTALACEÆ.

TUPELO TREE.

NYSSA.

POLYGAMIA DIECIA.

Named Nyssa, from a water nymph, on account of its growing in the water.

THE Mountain Tupelo tree, or Sour Gum, a native of Pennsylvania, was cultivated in this country by the Duke of Argyll, in 1750. It will grow as high as forty feet, with a trunk two feet in diameter. The leaves are of a dark lucid green on the upper surface; paler, and somewhat hairy underneath; those of the male tree are generally much narrower than those of the female, or fruit-bearing tree. The timber is close-grained and curled, so that it will not split: it is useful in making carriage-wheels.

The Virginian, or Water Tupelo tree, is a native of the wet swamps of Virginia, Carolina, Florida, &c. and will grow to the height of an hundred feet. There is a beautiful variety in the foliage of this tree, produced by the downy whiteness of the lower side of the leaves, contrasted by the deep green of the upper side, and the long slender foot-stalks which keep them in continual play. The berries are about the shape and size of small olives; and are preserved, like that fruit, by the French in the neighbourhood of the Mississippi, where the tree

B B