Part 14

The name is from the Greek, _Korus_, a helmet, from the form of the involucre.

=The Hornbeam= (_Carpinus betulus_).

It is in our experience that though many townsmen think they know the Beech there are comparatively few of them that cannot be deceived into accepting the Hornbeam as _Fagus sylvatica_. It must be admitted that there is a strong superficial resemblance to a small Beech; but on closer examination it will be found that the differences are greater than the likeness. The Hornbeam has a light-grey smooth bark, but instead of the very round trunk of the Beech, that of the Hornbeam appears to have been laterally squeezed, for the diameter taken one way is longer or shorter than if taken at right angles to the first measurement. Then again the leaf of _Carpinus_ if placed upon that of _Fagus_ will be found to be much less rotund in proportion to its length; the surface is rough, and instead of the cleanly cut margins of _Fagus_ we have a coarse double-toothing.

The Hornbeam when full-grown is a much smaller tree than the Beech, rarely exceeding seventy feet in height, with a trunk circumference of ten feet; whereas the Beech reaches a height of considerably over a hundred feet, with a girth of nearly thirty feet. When naturally grown, too, it is by no means so picturesque as the Beech, but in places where it is most plentiful, as in Essex, especially Epping Forest, it is generally pollarded, and seldom allowed to exhibit its true form.

The male flowers form a pendulous catkin, originating in the axils, and each consisting of an egg-shaped bract, holding about a dozen stamens at its base. The female flowers form an erect flower-head, shaped like an artichoke at the end of a twig, the three-lobed bracts each containing two flowers. After fertilization these lobes enlarge considerably, and the flower-head lengthens into the pendulous string of fruits shown in our illustration. The flowers appear in May.

=The Osier= (_Salix viminalis_).

The Willow family, to which the Osier belongs, is, like the Brambles, a difficult group even for the botanist, and he is a bold man or a very clever one who undertakes to identify specimens off-hand. They have suffered much at the hands of the “splitter.” Hooker gives the number of British species as eighteen, with a considerable number of varieties; but by Babington many of these varieties are given specific rank, and his list of species runs to fifty-eight. It would, of course, be absurd for us to attempt in this restricted space to give a key even to Hooker’s list; but our details of the flower structure, etc., will be found to apply in the main to all willows, and for a knowledge of the other species our readers must refer to Hooker. It should be added that, to increase the difficulties of the botanist, the plants that bear male flowers as a rule differ considerably from those that produce female flowers; for with scarcely an exception each plant is of one sex only.

The Osier (_S. viminalis_) is one of our most common species, and is the one most generally used for basket-weaving. It is a large shrub or low bushy tree, growing in wet places beside rivers and pools, or more frequently in Osier-beds. When allowed to grow uncut it attains a height of twenty or thirty feet; its long, smooth, and straight branches well furnished with very narrow leaves, tapering to a fine point, and sometimes nearly a foot in length. The margins of the leaf are quite free from teeth or lobes, and are curled back on the shining white silky underside. Both male and female flowers form catkins: the males each consisting of a hairy scale, to which are attached two stamens; the females of a similar scale bearing the ovary. The catkins appear before the leaves, in March or April. Salix is the old Latin name for Willows and Osiers.

=The Lombardy Poplar= (_Populus fastigiata_).

It is an easy step from the Willows to the Poplars, for the Genus Salix and the Genus Populus together form the Order Salicineæ. We have only two indigenous species in Britain--the White Poplar or Abele (_P. alba_), and the Aspen (_P. tremula_). In spite of the fact that it was not introduced until 1758 it may safely be said that the Lombardy Poplar is now a better known tree than either of our native species. It is the tree that is so frequently planted as a live screen, to break the force of the wind or to hide some undesirable prospect. Its growth is most rapid, and the story is told of a man who planted this tree in his garden at Great Tew, in Oxfordshire, and was living fifty years after, by which time his tree had beaten him considerably in the matter of growth, being then a hundred and twenty-five feet high! But like most other trees of rapid growth it attains no great age--for a tree, that is--and it is doubtful if it exceeds a century of life. The whole of its branches and shoots take an upward direction, which gives the tree the _fastigiate_ or sharp-pointed outline which has suggested its specific name.

In our native Poplars the shoots are downy; in _fastigiata_ they are smooth. The leaves are borne on long compressed stalks, which give them the ever-tremulous movement so well known in connection with the Aspen. As in the Willows, the sexes are on separate trees, and the flowers all in catkins. There is no perianth, a single bract-like scale serving instead, though there is a cup-shaped organ, within which is found, in one plant, a one-celled ovary, and in the other sex from twelve to twenty stamens with red anthers are attached to the under-side of the cup.

The name of the genus _Populus_ is the old Latin for Poplar and Aspen.

=The Oriental Plane= (_Platanus orientalis_).

One need not go far into the country in order to see the Plane. Its virtue as a smoke-proof tree has now been well tested by the governing authorities in large towns, and it is freely planted in recreation grounds and by the sides of broad thoroughfares. In London it must now be about the commonest tree; and some of the specimens grown in the west-end squares are very fine. Several of the London Planes have become quite “lions,” to be seen by all visitors who “do” the Metropolis; such is the individual that overtops the old-fashioned houses at the corner of Wood Street, Cheapside. More celebrated, perhaps, is the Stationers’ Hall Court tree, which, though only about sixty-five years old, is so important a feature of that corner of the City that, on the rumour that it was to be cut down a few years since to allow of certain improvements in the court, the denizens of Paternoster Row and the precincts were up in arms, and evinced such indignation that the building plans of the Stationers’ Company were modified, and the tree spared to delight the sparrows of the vicinity, and to bring thoughts of the country into the hearts of the publishing and bookselling fraternity who daily pour through the court.

In spite of its apparent enjoyment of London smoke and fog the plane-tree is not even a Britisher. Its introduction to England has been credited to Francis Bacon, but Loudon declares it was in our gardens prior to 1548--thirteen years before the birth of the Lord Keeper.

The leaves of the Plane are very similar to those of the Sycamore and False-Sycamore (_see_ page 134), but one feature will serve to identify it at any season--the pale yellow patches on the trunk of the Plane caused by its constant shedding of flakes of bark. In the autumn, too, there is a striking contrast between the winged samaras of _Acer_ and the ball-fruits of _Platanus_. _Acer_, again, has the leaves opposite, whilst in _Platanus_ they are alternate.

The Planes are lofty trees (sixty to eighty feet), with thick cylindrical trunks, wide-spreading branches and abundant foliage. The leaves are five-lobed, with a few coarse teeth, and smooth surface. The flowers of both sexes are in globular clusters and borne on the same tree, but on separate branches. The male flowers have a perianth of four narrow leaves alternating with the stamens. The female flowers consist of a one-seeded ovary with a curved style, one side of which is stigmatic. Flowers April and May.

_P. occidentalis_, the Western Plane, is very similar, but its leaves have red stalks, and are less deeply lobed and toothed; its bark scales less.

_Platanus_ is the old Greek name for the Plane-tree, and is probably derived from _Platos_, breadth, in allusion to the broad leaves or the ample shade afforded by its branches.

=The Birch= (_Betula alba_).

The most graceful of our native trees is the White or Silver Birch. It is the very antipodes among trees of the solid unbending oak. The slim stem, scarcely ever a foot in diameter, tapers away almost to nothing at a height of fifty or sixty feet. This is at full maturity at forty or fifty years; thereafter it makes little progress, and it is believed not to reach far beyond its hundredth year. It has the singular reputation for producing a bark that is more enduring than its timber. In spite of its effeminate grace it is a most hardy tree, and stands alone on the bleakest hillsides, and is the only tree that endures the rigorous climate of Greenland, though there, of course, it is greatly diminished in stature.

The leaf varies slightly in outline from oval with a point to a rhombic form, with a long slender stalk, and the edges are doubly toothed. The silvery-white bark is continually discarding its outermost layer, which peels off in ragged, tissue-paper-like strips, revealing the newer, whiter bark beneath. In this country it is used in tanning, but in the far Northern parts of Europe it is put to a variety of uses. The inflorescence is a catkin, the sexes separate, but borne by the same tree. The flowers of the pendulous male catkin consist each of a single sepal with two stamens, the filaments of which are forked, each branch bearing one anther cell, so that each stamen looks like two. The female spike, which is more erect, and shorter, is composed of three-lobed bracts, each containing two or three flowers. These are simply two-celled ovaries, with two styles and stigmas. The fruit is round, flattened, with a notched broad wing. It flowers in April and May.

There is one other Native species, the Dwarf Birch (_B. nana_), a bush of no more than three feet in height, which occurs locally in the mountain districts of Scotland and Northumberland. The leaves are very small, round with rounded teeth; smooth, dark green, and with a _short_ stalk. The seeds have very narrow wings. Flowers in May.

The name _Betula_ is the old Latin designation for this tree.

=The Alder= (_Alnus glutinosa_).

The Alder, of which we have but one species, is own cousin to the Birch, but we must not seek it in similar situations. The Birch loves the breezy hillside, the Alder prefers the swampy valley, the pond and river-side, its tastes being more thoroughly aquatic even than those of the Willows. Its bark has some resemblance to that of the Birch, especially when young, but in later life is more rugged, and very dark. The leaves are nearly round, doubly toothed, and with short stalks. When young they are sticky, as are the young shoots. The male catkins are long, produced, like those of the Hazel, late in autumn; the round red scales each holding three flowers, consisting of three, four or five sepals, and as many stamens. The female spikes are not produced till spring: they are more globular, and resemble minute cedar cones. The scales are reddish-brown and fleshy, afterwards becoming hard and woody; there are two or three flowers in each, consisting of two sepals, an ovary and two styles. When ripe (October) the thick scales separate and set free the pale-brown nuts, which are very slightly winged.

In suitable situations the Alder attains a stature of forty to sixty feet, and reaches maturity in about sixty years. The wood is soft and white, but turns orange by exposure after cutting. Under water it is very enduring, all but imperishable, and the Rialto at Venice is said to be built on Alder-piles. It is greatly used in the manufacture of gunpowder.

_Alnus_ is the old Latin name for the tree, and for a boat.

=Scotch-fir or Pine= (_Pinus sylvestris_).

This, the Juniper, and the Yew are the only coniferous trees we have in Britain. _Pinus sylvestris_ is therefore our only Pine, yet people persist in calling it a Fir, a name more especially belonging to the genus _Abies_. Time was when this beautiful tree grew wild in many parts of Britain; it is now found naturally in but a few places, from Yorkshire northwards; otherwhere it has been planted. We may easily tell whether a cone-bearing tree before us is a Pine or not by examining the leaf-cluster. If the leaves are in twos, threes, or fives, bound together at the base by thin, chaffy scales, it is a Pine. Should they be in twos, the leaves will be found to be half-rounded; if in threes or fives, they will be triangular in section. The _cones_, or fruits, of the Pines take two years to ripen. The scales of which the cones are made up are thicker at the free end, so that the outer surface of each scale is pyramidal.

The Scotch-pine, as with the reader’s permission we will call it, differs much according to the situation in which it is growing. In a favourable locality its trunk will grow to an altitude of one hundred feet, with a girth of twelve feet, whereas in very lofty, exposed situations it is a stunted shrub. Its bark is rugged, and of a ruddy-brown colour. Its needle-shaped leaves are in twos, and last for three years, after which they fall. The flowers are of two kinds. The males consist of many two-celled anthers spirally arranged on a spike, and the spikes are clustered round the new shoots. The female flowers consist each of a green scale, thickened and sticky at the apex and bearing on the inner side of its base two naked ovules. These scales are also associated in a spiral manner round a spike, the whole having a conical form. The male flowers produce an enormous quantity of pollen, which the wind blows in great sulphur-like clouds. Some of the pollen-grains stick to the edges of the scales on the young cones, and the pollen-shoots find their way down to the ovules and fertilize them. In the ripe cone we find, on the scales separating, there are two winged seeds under each scale. The timber of _P. sylvestris_ is very valuable, and large quantities of it are annually imported from Norway and the shores of the Baltic; there are numerous varieties of it, known commercially as Red pine, Norway pine, Riga pine, Baltic pine, etc. The tree begins to bear cones between the age of fifteen and twenty years.

It is characteristic of Pines that the branches die off early, and this gives old trees the peculiar appearance of a tall, gaunt, red mast, with a somewhat flat, spreading head.

=The Cluster Pine or Pinaster= (_P. pinaster_).

This is not a native of Britain, though it has been grown here for about three hundred years. Its home is in the countries bordering the Mediterranean, chiefly in low ground near the sea. It is a large tree growing to a height of sixty or seventy feet, but its timber is so soft that it has little value for the builder, though the carpenter finds many uses for it, and much of it is used in the preparation of resin, turpentine and tar. The tree may be readily identified by its long, dark leaves (in twos), forming large, brush-like clusters. These leaves vary from six to twelve inches in length. The cones are as large again as those of the Scotch-pine, and each scale bears in the centre of the raised portion a hard, sharp point of a grey colour. This is the tree which has proved of such great service in France in turning to use considerable areas of barren sea-sands. In the Departments of the Landes and Gironde troublesome rolling sands have been rendered fit for agriculture by making plantations of _P. pinaster_, which can thrive in such poor stuff, even so near the sea.

=The Silver-fir= (_Abies pectinata_).

Here we have a true fir, which will be seen on examination to differ in several points from the pines. It will at once be noted that the leaves are not gathered into bundles of two, three, or five, but grow solitarily in two rows, on opposite sides of a branch. They are flat, with blunt ends, whitish or silvery underneath, and evergreen. The cones, too, are very different from those of the pines, for whereas those were found to be conical, these are really cylindrical, and consist of a number of woody cones of pretty equal thickness throughout, not thickened at the tips as in _Pinus_. The firs are excellent timber trees, and are rich in turpentine.

The Silver-fir gets its popular name from the silvery undersides of its leaves. The cones stand erectly from the branches; at first they are green, then reddish, finally purplish-brown. They are six or eight inches in length. Each scale has a long, tapering bract attached to its outer surface, and turned over at the tip. It is a lofty tree, growing to eighty or a hundred feet, sometimes more. It is a native of Central Europe, Northern and Western Asia, but has been grown in England for nearly three hundred years. Its timber is reputed to be durable under water; and from its bark is obtained a resin called Strasburg turpentine, also white pitch. The flowers appear in May, and the cones are ripe eighteen months later. The tree often begins to produce cones at about twenty years of age, but until about its fortieth year these are barren.

The name _Abies_ is Latin, signifying a fir-tree or a plank. A shipwright or carpenter was _abietarius_.

=The Norway Spruce-fir= (_Abies excelsa_).

The Spruce-fir is a handsome tree, often reaching from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet in height. The leaves are curiously square, sharp-pointed and scattered in their arrangement on the branch. The cylindrical cones hang down from the tip of a shoot, and are six or seven inches long, their scales with a few teeth at the apex. Its seeds are very small. The flowers appear in May, and the cones ripen in about twelve months. It is a native of Norway, Russia, and Northern Europe generally, and was introduced to Britain nearly three hundred and fifty years ago; but previous to the glacial period it appears to have been indigenous and prosperous here. Its timber (white deal) is very largely used for many purposes. Its resin is known as frankincense, from which is prepared Burgundy pitch; and from the boiled leaf-buds and shoots is obtained essence of spruce, which is used to flavour an intoxicant known as spruce-beer.

One of the most ornamental of this group is the Hemlock Spruce (_Abies canadensis_), a species that was introduced about a hundred and sixty years since. Its home is in all the forest regions of Canada and the United States as far west as Oregon, and in New England and the Dominion its shortened name of Hemlock is “familiar in the mouths” of the people. The leaves are short, flat, solitary, and endure for two seasons. The cones are but half an inch long, and afford a striking contrast to those of the Sugar-pine (_Pinus lambertiana_) whose cones are said sometimes to measure two feet long. The peculiar grace of the Hemlock is due to the symmetrically arranged branches, and to their drooping tips; but in later life it becomes rugged, and loses much of its charm. Its wood is not so highly esteemed as its bark, which is useful for tanning.

=The Larch= (_Larix europæa_).

So frequently do we come across huge plantations of Larch that we might be pardoned for supposing it to be a native tree; but though it was introduced to Britain as an ornamental tree about two hundred and fifty years ago its true home is in the South European Alps. It is singular in the fact of being a _deciduous_ conifer, that is it sheds all its leaves in the autumn, and remains naked until the spring. A larch-wood in winter presents rather a weird and dreary aspect, the grey branches and trunks appearing as if dead and withered, an aspect that is intensified when, as frequently happens, the branches are thickly invested with the lichens _Ramalina_ and _Evernia_. But in spring the Larch again becomes a thing of beauty, and, as Tennyson sings:--

“Rosy plumelets tuft the Larch, And rarely sings the mounted thrush; And underneath the barren bush Flits by the sea-blue bird of March.”

These “rosy plumelets” are the future cones, and they are very conspicuous on the bare branches. They become ripe by their first Autumn, when they are but little more than an inch in length, rather oval than conical; erect on the branch, and the scales with irregular margins. When first the leaves appear they are in tufts, arranged alternately, as shown in our figure, but as the season advances each tuft lengthens into a twig and the leaves become scattered along it as the wood grows--the tree not gaining in good looks thereby. The tree has a wonderfully slender pyramidal form, due to the downward growth of all the branches. It is greatly appreciated as a timber-producing tree, its useful wood being fit to use when the tree is only forty years of age, in which respect it has distinct advantage over the Scotch-pine, which requires eighty years in order to produce serviceable timber. In its early years its annual growth exceeds two feet. At ten years of age from the sowing of the seed it has reached the height of twenty or twenty-five feet, and at fifty years it is eighty feet high. Its natural life is from one hundred and fifty to two hundred years. The Larch and the Spruce-fir have to a great extent supplanted the Scotch-pine in this country, owing to their more rapid growth and development of wood.

In its native countries the bark of the Larch is used for tanning, and the young shoots as fodder for cattle, whilst its resin is an article of commerce under the title of Venice turpentine.

NATURAL ORDERS, GENERA AND SPECIES

_Illustrated or Described in the foregoing pages._

Order I.--=Ranunculaceæ.=

Genus I.--_CLEMATIS vitalba_, 82

Genus III.--_ANEMONE nemorosa_, 3; _pulsatilla_, 4

Genus V.--_RANUNCULUS acris_, 18; _bulbosus_, 18; _ficaria_, 6; _repens_, 19

Genus VI.--_CALTHA palustris_, 13; _radicans_, 13

Order II.--=Berberideæ.=

Genus I.--_BERBERIS vulgaris_, 57

Order III.--=Nymphæaceæ.=

Genus I.--_NUPHAR luteum_, 106; _pumilum_, 106

Genus II.--_NYMPHÆA alba_, 106

Order IV.--=Papaveraceæ.=

Genus I.--_PAPAVER hybridum_, 61; _argemone_, 61; _dubium_, 61; _rhœas_, 61

Genus III.--_CHELIDONIUM majus_, 64

Order V.--=Fumariaceæ.=

Genus I.--_FUMARIA capreolata_, 9; _officinalis_, 8; _densiflora_, 9; _parviflora_, 9

Order VI.--=Cruciferæ.=

Genus I.*--_CHEIRANTHUS cheiri_, 12

Genus V.--_CARDAMINE hirsuta_, 11; _pratensis_, 10; _amara_, 11; _impatiens_, 11

Genus IX.--_BRASSICA nigra_, 90; _sinapis_, 90; _alba_, 90

Genus XV.--_CAPSELLA bursa-pastoris_, 11

Order VII.--=Resedaceæ.=

Genus I.--_RESEDA luteola_, 79; _lutea_, 79

Order VIII.--=Cistineæ.=

Genus I.--_HELIANTHEMUM vulgare_, 42; _polifolium_, 42; _guttatum_, 42; _canum_, 42

Order IX.--=Violaceæ.=

Genus I.--_VIOLA palustris_, 58; _odorata_, 4; _hirta_, 58; _canina_, 58; _sylvatica_, 58; _arenaria_, 58; _tricolor_, 58