degree of summer heat than it gets in England, for in the south of France it becomes a splendid tree. I saw in the Museum Gardens at Chambery, in the grounds of the Castle formerly belonging to the Dukes of Savoy, a tree which, though forked near the ground, had two tall clean trunks each about 100 feet by 5 to 6 feet. The leaves were only just appearing on 18th May, and many of the large bean-like pods full of greenish pulp, which had fallen in the winter, lay on the ground. Seeds from these pods germinated, but the seedlings, with one exception, withered soon afterwards. It is not uncommon in Savoy, and I saw a fine specimen, 81 feet by 9 feet 6 inches, in the Public Gardens at Aix-les-Bains, which in October 1906 had ripe pods on it. It is known in France by the name of “Bonduc.”
In the old Botanic Garden at Padua a splendid tree was in 1895, according to Prof. Saccardo,[1] 135 years old, 21 metres high, and 2.60 metres in girth, When I saw it in 1905 the trunk was broken off at about 12 feet, but long shoots, which were in flower, had been produced from the stump. (H.J.E.)
- ↑ L'Orto Botanico di Padova (1895).
