=Judas Tree= (_Cercis siliquastrum_), is a beautiful leguminous tree, growing wild from Japan to the shores of the Mediterranean, with smooth kidney-shaped leaves, glaucous above, and pink or red flowers, which spring from both old and young wood before the appearance of the leaves. From its appearance at this season the tree shares with the elder the sinister reputation of having formed the gallows of Judas Iscariot.
=BARK, CELLS, HEART AND RINGS OF THE TREE=
[Illustration: Fibrous Bark of Honeysuckle]
[Illustration: The Structure of a Young Twig of Oak, showing the layer of cells (A) which increases the girth of the twig as it grows into a branch]
[Illustration: Section of the Trunk of a Laburnum, showing Heart and Sap-wood]
[Illustration: Section of the Trunk of an Oak, showing the Annual Rings]
=Juniper Tree= (_Juniperus communis_), is rarely seen as a tree, but appears usually as a low shrub. Its awl-shaped, pointed leaves stand always by threes of the same height on the young shoots. The male blossom catkins are short-stalked, and stand singly in the axils of the bracts; the fruit is a black berry. These berries are employed for medicinal purposes. The so-called WHITE CEDAR of the Eastern States and the BERMUDA CEDAR, much prized for timber, are junipers.
=Larch= (_Larix Europæa_), has leaves which grow in clusters, and drop during the Autumn. Its bark is rough and cracked; its red-blossom catkins stand at the side of the yellow catkins. Its egg-shaped little cones have backward bent stalks. The larch tree attains a height of from forty-five to sixty feet, and is found in forests everywhere. The AMERICAN LARCH or TAMARACK is a slender tree fifty to sixty feet high, growing from Virginia to Hudson Bay. It is often planted as an ornamental tree and the wood is highly valued for shipbuilding and for telegraph poles.
=Linden or Lime= (_Tilia_), is the emblem of intense feeling. It has been from time immemorial the favorite of the Germans. Below the large linden trees the judicial proceedings, the fairs, and national games formerly took place in Germany, and to this day men and women like to sit under the village linden tree, and talk of the good old times. They do not blossom before June and July. The blossom is five-leaved, and contains many stamens and one pistil. The fruit is a little nut. The AMERICAN LINDEN or BASSWOOD is a large tree seventy to one hundred and twenty-five feet high, growing from New Brunswick to Georgia, west to Nebraska and Texas. The wood is extensively used for making cheap furniture and paper pulp. The SOUTHERN BASSWOOD or WHITEWOOD is a small tree forty to fifty feet high growing from Long Island to Florida, west to Texas. The WHITE BASSWOOD or BEE TREE is a forest tree forty-five to seventy feet high, Pennsylvania to Florida, west to Illinois and Tennessee.