eet in height, and above 4 feet in diameter; he mentions two varieties,
one with yellow and the other with white wood; that with yellow wood is
soft and brittle, much used for boards, heels of shoes, also turned into
bowls, trenchers, &c. the white is heavy, tough, and hard, and is sawed
into joists, boards, &c. for building.

RAY informs us in his _Hist. Pl._ that this tree was cultivated here by
Bishop COMPTON, in 1688: and from MILLER we learn, that the first tree
of the kind which flowered in this country, was in the gardens of the
Earl of PETERBOROUGH, at Parsons-Green, near Fulham; in Mr. ORD'S
garden, at Walham-Green, there is, among other choice old trees, a very
fine tulip-tree, which is every year covered with blossoms, and which
afforded us the specimen here figured. It flowers in June and July,
rarely ripens its seeds with us, though it does readily in America.

The foliage of this plant is extremely singular, most of the leaves
appearing as if truncated, or cut off at the extremity; they vary
greatly in the division of their lobes, the flowers differ from those of
the tulip in having a calyx, but agree as to the number of petals, which
is six; and so they are described in the sixth edition of the _Gen. Pl._
of LINN. but in _Professor_ MURRAY'S _Syst. Veg. Ait. H. K. Linn. Syst.
Nat. ed. 13_, by GMELIN, 9 are given, this in the first instance must be
a mere typographical error arising from the inversion of the 6.

This tree is found to flourish most in a soil moderately stiff and
moist, is usually raised from seeds, the process of which is amply
described by MILLER in his Dictionary.

[Illustration: No 276]

[276]

BLITUM VIRGATUM. STRAWBERRY BLITE.

_Class and Order._

MONANDRIA DIGYNIA.

_Generic Character._

_Col._ 3-fidus. _Petala_ O. _Sem._ 1. calyce baccato.

_Specific Character and Synonyms._

BLITUM _virgatum_ capitellis sparsis lateralibus. _Linn. Syst.
Vegetab. ed. 14._ _Murr. p. 53._ _Ait. Kew. v. 1. p. 7._

ATRIPLEX sylvestris mori fructu. _Bauh. Pin. p. 519._

ATRIPLEX sylvestris baccifera. _Clus. Hist. cxxxv._

This plant, not unfrequently met with in gardens, is known to most
cultivators by the name of _Strawberry Spinach_; the leaves somewhat
resembling those of the latter, and the fruit that of the former: C.
BAUHINE likens its berries to those of the Mulberry, to which they
certainly bear a greater resemblance: in most of the species of this