The flowers are very profuse, and are so much prized by bees, that these insects keep up a perpetual humming on a summer's day among the branches. In Lithuania, near Kowno, where there are large forests of limes, the honey is remarkable for its excellence, and much valued for medicinal purposes, and as an ingredient in liqueurs, Kowno honey being worth double the price any other. of The ancestors of our great Swedish botanist owed their name to a linden-tree growing near their dwelling, Linné being the Swedish name of Linnæus; and Hohenlinden is one of many places called after this tree. Several linden-trees are famous in local histories, and in poetry, like that under which Martin Luther stood and preached the doctrines of the Reformation; or that huge tree, at Fribourg, which commemorates the victory of the Swiss over Charles the Bold, in 1476. This tree is old, but a lime-tree older yet, and supposed to have been planted a thousand years ago, stands at no great distance from it, and has a trunk thirty-six feet in circumference. One of the finest limes in England is that celebrated one of Moor Park, in Hertfordshire, which is surrounded by many a large and old companion, and is itself nearly a hundred feet high. What Bryant said of another group of trees is true of these limes : "These shades are still the abodes Try their thin wings, and dance in the warm beam To the soft winds; the sun from the blue sky That seeks its sweets." Professor Burnett tells us that there are some famous old lime-trees, a variety of Tilia platyphylla, growing in the churchyard of Seidlitz, in Bohemia, the broad leaves of which are hooded; and the peasants assure you that they have miraculously borne hooded leaves ever since the monks of a neighbouring convent were them. hanged upon The Rev. C. A. Johns, in his work on the Forest Trees of Britain, mentions several remarkable limetrees as having been described by various authors. " 'At Chalouse, in Switzerland," says this writer, "there stood one, in Evelyn's time, under which was a bower composed of its branches, capable of containing 300 persons sitting at ease; it had a fountain, set about with many tables formed only of the boughs, to which they ascend by steps, all kept so accurately and so very thick, that the sun never looked into it." The same author mentions another famous lime at Neustadt, in Wirtemberg, which gave a distinctive name to the town. Its huge limbs were supported by numerous stone columns, bearing inscriptions. This tree was still in existence, Loudon tells us in his "Arboretum," in 1838, the trunk being eighteen feet in diameter, and beneath its broad shadow the people of Neustadt were then, like the men 3. I. grandifólia (Broad-leaved, Downy Lime-tree). -Nectaries none; leaves downy, especially beneath, with solitary hairs; origin of the veins woolly; young branches and leaf-stalks hairy; fruit woody. Plant perennial. This tree, though usually enumerated among our British plants, has less claims than either of the other species to be considered as a native. It grows, however, in several woods and hedges, as in those about Edinburgh, flowering in June and July. ORDER XVIII. HYPERICINEÆ.-ST. JOHN'S WORT TRIBE. Sepals 4 or 5, not falling off, unequal, often fringed with black dots; petals of the same number as the sepals, sometimes unequal-sided, twisted when in bud, often bordered with black dots; stamens numerous, united at the base into three or more sets; ovary single ; styles 3-5; fruit, a capsule or berry, composed of several valves and cells, the valves curved inwards; seeds minute, numerous. This Order consists of herbs or shrubs, most of them having opposite leaves. Their flowers are chiefly yellow, and they abound in a resinous juice, the greater number being glandular. Both leaves and petals are generally dotted with black, are viscid, mostly bitter, and slightly astringent. Some species are used as febrifuges, or as lotions; and one is reputed in Brazil to be an antidote against the bite of serpents. Many afford a good yellow dye; and one of the St. perennial. This, though probably not a truly British tree, is very common in our woods and hedgerows, and has been for some centuries planted in avenues and parks. It is well fitted to lend its shadow to the public promenade, for it bears the smoke of the city well, its only defect being, that it is late in coming into leaf, and one of the first to shed its foliage, looking sere and yellow long before the elm or beech is showing a tinge of the autumnal brown. It is a favourite tree for avenues on the Continent, and is largely planted in Holland and Germany. We owe some of our lime-walks, doubtless, to John Evelyn, who, in his "Sylva," recommended its culture for this purpose. He describes trees growing in Switzerland, Germany, and Hungary, as attaining an immense size; and after referring to the esteem in which the tree is held by the people of these countries, as it was by the ancient Romans, adds, "It is a shameful negligence that we are no better provided with nurseries for a tree so choice, and so universally acceptable." At that time there were no plantations of young limes in England, and our countrymen procured these plants from Holland and Flanders. It is very pleasant to sit beneath a lime-tree on a summer's evening in July, when the green flowers are fully expanded; for the odour, imperceptible during day, becomes then most deliciously fragrant, and the green shadow refreshes us, while the whispering of the soft airs among the well-clad boughs gives gentle music. Linden-trees, even in our country, often attain a considerable size, and they then become of a beautiful form, though younger trees have usually a formal appearance. their name to a linden-tree growing near their dwelling, The ancestors of our great Swedish botanist owed Linné being the Swedish name of Linnæus; and Hohenlinden is one of many places called after this tree. Several linden-trees are famous in local histories, and in poetry, like that under which Martin Luther stood and preached the doctrines of the Reformation; or that huge tree, at Fribourg, which commemorates the victory of the Swiss over Charles the Bold, in 1476. This tree is old, but a lime-tree older yet, and supposed to have been planted a thousand years ago, stands at no great distance from it, and has a trunk thirty-six feet in circumference. One of the finest limes in England is that celebrated one of Moor Park, in Hertfordshire, which is surrounded by many a large and old companion, and is itself nearly a hundred feet high. What Bryant said of another group of trees is true of these limes: Of undissembled gladness: the thick roof "These shades are still the abodes |