A coat of arms representing the city of Chester, England.

Bishopic

A coat of arms representing the city of Chester, England.

The seal for the city of Chichester, England.

Arms of Chichester

The seal for the city of Chichester, England.

A seal representing the town of Colchester, England.

Colchester

A seal representing the town of Colchester, England.

"A market-town and municipal borough of England, in the county of Cheshire, near the border of Staffordshire, 26 miles south of Manchester by rail. it is finely situated in a deep valley, on the banks of the dane, a tributary of the Weaver." — Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Congleton

"A market-town and municipal borough of England, in the county of Cheshire, near the border of Staffordshire,…

"Henry I enriched the plain circlet with gems, and on his great seal the trefoils of his fathers crown assume a form resembling that of fleurs-de-lys." — Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Crown

"Henry I enriched the plain circlet with gems, and on his great seal the trefoils of his fathers crown…

"Upon his seal as earl of Chester, the same sovereign has the circlet of his open crown heightened with fleurs-de-lys only, alternating with small clusters of pearls." — Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Crown

"Upon his seal as earl of Chester, the same sovereign has the circlet of his open crown heightened with…

"A crown which appears on the great seal of Henry VIII." — Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Crown

"A crown which appears on the great seal of Henry VIII." — Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

"The form of the arches shown appear for the first time upon the great seal of Edward VI." — Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Crown

"The form of the arches shown appear for the first time upon the great seal of Edward VI." — Encyclopedia…

A seal representing the city of Derby, England.

Derby

A seal representing the city of Derby, England.

"A royal and parliamentary burgh and seaport, situated on the east coast of Scotland, in the county of Forfar, on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, twelve miles from the confluence of that estuary with the German Ocean. It is the third town in Scotland as regards to population, and the second in commercial importance." — Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Dundee

"A royal and parliamentary burgh and seaport, situated on the east coast of Scotland, in the county…

The seal for the civil corporation of Durham and Framwellgate.

Corporation Seal

The seal for the civil corporation of Durham and Framwellgate.

"Corporation Seal." &mdash Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

Corporation Seal

"Corporation Seal." &mdash Encyclopedia Britannica, 1893

"Star of the order of the Thistle." — Chambers' Encyclopedia, 1875

Order of the Thistle

"Star of the order of the Thistle." — Chambers' Encyclopedia, 1875

"The religious Order of the Heavenly Annunciation, or of the Nuns of the Annunciation of Mary, was instituted by Victoria Fornare at Genoa in 1682, after the rule of St. Augustine. All the convents of the order in France, Germany, and the Netherlands have disappeared since the French Revolution. Some still exist in Italy." — Chambers' Encyclopedia, 1875

Order of the Annunciation

"The religious Order of the Heavenly Annunciation, or of the Nuns of the Annunciation of Mary, was instituted…

A seal which has many bands of white around black.

Ribbon Seal

A seal which has many bands of white around black.

"Star of the Order of the Black Eagle." — Chambers' Encyclopedia, 1875

Black Eagle

"Star of the Order of the Black Eagle." — Chambers' Encyclopedia, 1875

Rootstock of Solomon's Seal, with the bottom of the stalk of the season, and the bud for the next year's growth.

Solomon's Seal

Rootstock of Solomon's Seal, with the bottom of the stalk of the season, and the bud for the next year's…

The ancient Egyptians regarded the scarab as a symbol of immortality. 1. Stone scarab with wings, 2. The sacred beetle (<em>Scarabaeus sacer</em>), 3. Scarab from the British Museum, 4. Scarab seal from the tomb of Maket, 5, 6. Scarabs from monuments.

Egyptian scarabs

The ancient Egyptians regarded the scarab as a symbol of immortality. 1. Stone scarab with wings, 2.…

A sceptre from the seal of Edward the Confessor.

Sceptre of Edward the Confessor

A sceptre from the seal of Edward the Confessor.

Leaves - simple; alternate (often alternate in pairs); edge very sharply, unequally, and rather coarsely toothed. Outline - egg-shape. Apex - pointed. Base - narrowed and heart-shaped. Leaf/Stem - short and downy. Leaf - about four by two and one fourth inches, or often smaller, thin' downy when young, becoming smooth. Ribs - straight. Bark - outer bark of trunk thin and a silvery yellow, and separating into narrow ribbons curling outwards at the ends. The twigs and the bark are sweet-tasting and aromatic, but less so than in the "Sweet Birch."  Found - in moist woods, along the Alleghany Mountains, in Delaware and Southern Minnesota, and northward into Canada. General Information - A tree forth to eight feet or often more in height; one of the largest and most valuable non-evergreen trees of New England and Canada. Its hard, close-grained wood is largely used for fuel, in making furniture, button-moulds, wheel-hubs, pill-boxes, etc.

Genus Betula, L. (Birch)

Leaves - simple; alternate (often alternate in pairs); edge very sharply, unequally, and rather coarsely…

Leaves - simple; alternate; edge finely and rather sharply toothed. Outline - egg-shape. Apex - taper-pointed. Base - rounded. Leaf/Stem - nearly smooth, the lower half rounded, the upper part only slightly flattened. Leaf/Bud - in the spring is large and yellow, and covered with a fragrant gum (as, to some extent, are the buds of most of the poplars). Leaf - four to six inches long; when young, yellowish above, becoming bright green; whitish, and "net-veined" below; smooth. Found - in Northern New England, Central Michigan, and Minnesota, and far northward. General Information - A tree sixty to seventy feet high, with very light and soft wood.

Genus Populus, L. (Aspen, Poplar)

Leaves - simple; alternate; edge finely and rather sharply toothed. Outline - egg-shape. Apex - taper-pointed.…

Leaves - simple; alternate; edge lobed; (edge of the lobes entire or sometimes coarsely notched and hollowed at their ends.) Outline - reverse egg-shape. Apex - of lobes, rounded. Base - wedge-shape. Leaf - quite variable in size and shape; four to seven inches long; smooth; pale beneath; the lobes oftenest five to nine, long and narrow, and sometimes widening toward the end, but at other times only three to five, short and broad, and radiating obliquely from the middle rub. Bark - of trunk, slightly roughened (comparatively smooth for an oak), light-gray; in older trees loosening in large, thin scales; the inner bark white. Acorns - usually in pairs on a stem one fourth of an inch or more in length. Cup - rounded saucer-shape, not scaly, but rough and warty and much shorter than the nut. Nut - three fourths to one inch long, slightly egg-shape or oval; brown, sweet, and edible. October. Found - from Ontario and the valley of the St. Lawrence southward to Florida, and westward to Southeastern Minnesota, Arkansas, and Texas. Its finest growth is on the western slopes of the Alleghany Mountains, and in the Ohio basin. General Information - A noble tree, sixty to eighty feet or more in height, with hard, touch wood of very great value in many kinds of manufacturing, and for fuel. The withered, light-brown leaves often cling throughout the winter. The "oak-apples" or "galls" often found on oak-trees are the work of 'gall-flies" and their larvae. When green tiny worms will usually be found at their centre. Quaint reference is made to these galls in Gerardes' "Herbal": "Oak-apples being broken in sunder before they have an hole thorough them do fore shewe the sequell of the yeere. If they conteine in them a flie, then warre insueth; if a creeping worme, then scarcitie of victuals; if a running spider, then followeth great sickness or mortalitie." The oak, probably more than any other tree, has been associated with workshop of the gods. The "Talking Tree" of the sanctuary in Dodona (the oldest of all the Hellenic sanctuaries, and second in repute only to that at Delphi) was an oak. Oak groves were favorite places for altars and temples of Jupiter. The Druids worshipped under the oak-trees. Quercus, possible from a Celtic word meaning to inquire, because it was among the oaks that the Druids oftenest practised their rites.

Genus Quercus, L. (Oak)

Leaves - simple; alternate; edge lobed; (edge of the lobes entire or sometimes coarsely notched and…

Leaves - simple; opposite; edge entire. Outline - egg-shape, or often broad oval, or reverse egg-shape. Apex - pointed, often taper-pointed. Base - pointed and usually slightly unequal. Leaf/Stem - short (about one half inch). Leaf - three to five inches long; smooth above; pale and nearly smooth beneath; with the whitish ribs very distinct and curved. Bark - of trunk, blackish and rough, with short, broken ridges. The bark, especially of the roots, is very bitter and is used as a tonic. Flowers - The real flowers are greenish-yellow, in a small rounded bunch; but this bunch is surrounded by four large, petal-like leaves, white and often tinged with pink, more than an inch in length, reverse egg-shaped, and ending in a hard, abruptly turned point. The appearance is of a single large flower. The tree blossoms in May before the leaves are fully set. Fruit - The "Flower" is succeeded by a bunch of oval berries that turn bright red as they ripen, making the tree in the autumn, with its richly changing foliage, nearly as attractive as in the spring. Found - in rich woods, from New England to Minnesota, and southward to Florida and Texas. It is very common, especially at the South. General Information - A finely shaped, rather flat-branching tree, usually twelve to thirty feet high, but dwindling, northward, to the dimensions of a shrub; one of the most ornamental of all our native flowering trees. Its character throughout the extent of its range would seem to warrant the recognition of its blossom as the "national flower." Cornus, from a Greek word meaning horn, because of the hardness of the wood.

Flowering Dogwood

Leaves - simple; opposite; edge entire. Outline - egg-shape, or often broad oval, or reverse egg-shape.…

Leaves - simple, opposite; edge lobed, with the lobes very finely sharply toothed. Outline - rounded in the lower half, three-lobed above with the hollows between the lobes sharp. Apex - of the lobes, slim and pointed. Base - more or less heart-shape. Bark - smooth, green, and peculiarly marked lengthwise with dark stripes. Flowers - large, yellowish-green. May, June. Fruit - with spreading pale-green wings, in long clusters. Found - in Canada, through the Northern Atlantic States, westward to Northeastern Minnesota, and along the Alleghany Mountains to Georgia. General Information - A small and slender tree or shrub, usually ten to twenty-five feet high. Acer, from a Latin word meaning sharp, because of the ancient use of the wood for spearheads and other weapons.

Genus Acer, L. (Maple)

Leaves - simple, opposite; edge lobed, with the lobes very finely sharply toothed. Outline - rounded…

Leaves - simple; opposite; edge lobed, with the lobes very sparingly and coarsely sharp-toothed or the lower pair entire. Outline - rounded, with three to five lobes, usually five, with the hollows between the lobes and between the coarse teeth rounded. Apex - of the lobes, pointed. Base - heart-shaped or nearly squared. Leaf - dark green above; slightly lighter beneath; smooth or somewhat downy on the ribs; closely resembling that of the introduced "Norway Maple" by lacking the latter's milky-juiced leaf-stem. Bark - light gray, usually smoothish when young, becoming rough and scaly. Flowers - yellow-green and very abundant. April, May.  Fruit - greenish-yellow, smooth, drooping, on thread-like and hairy stems one to two inches long, with wings about one inch long, broad and slightly spreading. September. Found - from Southern Canada through the Northern States, southward along the Alleghany Mountains, and westward to Minnesota, Eastern Nebraska, and Eastern Texas. Its finest development is in the region of the Great Lakes. It grows in rich woods; often it forms "groves," sometimes extensive forests.

Genus Acer, L. (Maple)

Leaves - simple; opposite; edge lobed, with the lobes very sparingly and coarsely sharp-toothed or the…

Leaves - simple; indeterminate in position because of their closeness; arranged singly all around the branchlets. Leaf - needle-shaped, five twelfths to three fourths of an inch long, four-sided, curved, sharp, rather slender, bluish-green, much lighter than the leaf of the Black Spruce. Bark - lighter than that of the Black Spruce. Cones - one to two inches long, and always in the proportion of about two inches in length to one half or three fourths of an inch in thickness; drooping at the ends of the branchlets; long oval or cylinder-shape; pale green when young, becoming brownish as they ripen. Scales - broad reverse egg-shape, with an entire edge, and rounded or somewhat two-lobed at the apex. Found - in Maine, Northeastern Vermont, Northern Michigan, Minnesota, and far northward, on low ground and in swamps. It is most common north of the United States boundaries. General Information - An evergreen tree, forty to seventy feet high. One of the most important of the Northern timber trees.

Genus Picea, Link. (Spruce)

Leaves - simple; indeterminate in position because of their closeness; arranged singly all around the…

Leaves - compound (odd-feathered; leaflets, five); alternate; edge of leaflets sharp-toothed. Outline - of leaflet, long oval, reverse egg-shape or egg-shape, the lower pair differing in shape from the others, and much smaller. Apex - long-pointed. Base - of the end leaflet, wedge-shape; of the others, more or less blunted. Leaf/Stem - rough throughout. Buds - large and scaly, often of a green and brown color. Leaflet/Stems - lacking (or scarcely noticeable), excepting the roughish stem of the end leaflet. Leaflets - four to eight inches long; roughish below. Bark - dark and very rough in the older trunks, peeling up and down in long, shaggy strips. Often the strips cling at their middle and are loose at each end. Fruit - round, nearly one and a half to two inches in diameter; the husk, thick (nearly half an inch), depressed at the center, grooved at the seams, and wholly separating into four inches at maturity; the nut, about one inch long, often the same in breadth, slightly flattened at the sides, angular, nearly pointless, whitish, with a rather this shell, and a large finely flavored kernel. October. Found - from the valley of the St. Lawrence River to Southeastern Minnesota, and southward to Western Florida. Its finest growth is west of the Alleghany Mountains.General Information - A tree, fifty to eighty feet high, of great value. Its tough and elastic wood is used in making agricultural implements, carriages, axe-handles, etc. It ranks also among the best of woods for fuel. Most of the "hickory nuts" of the markets are from this species. All the Hickories are picturesque trees. Their tendency, even when standing alone, is to grow high, and with heads that, instead of being round, are cylinder-shaped to the very top, with only enough breaks and irregularities to add to the effect. This tendency is more marked in the Hickories than in any other of the leaf-shedding trees of North America. They are worthy of the name sometimes given them of 'the artist's tree." Hicoria, from a Greek word meaning round, in allusion to the shape of the nut.

Genus Hicoria, Raf., Carya, Nutt. (Hickory)

Leaves - compound (odd-feathered; leaflets, five); alternate; edge of leaflets sharp-toothed. Outline…

Leaves - compound (odd-feathered; leaflets, seven to nine); edge of leaflets nearly entire or slightly toothed. Outline - of leaflet, long oval or egg-shape. Apex - taper-pointed. Base - somewhat pointed. Leaf/Stem - velvety-downy. Leaflet/Stem - about one fourth of an inch long, or somewhat less, and velvety-downy. Leaf/Bud - rounded, nearly concealed by the leaf-stem, downy, and of a dark, rusty brown. Leaflet - two to six inches long, downy beneath, and pale, becoming reddish. Bark - of the trunk, dark ashy or granite-gray, or of a deep brown. It is slightly furrowed up and does, the furrows seldom joining or crossing. The branches are grayish. The young shoots are velvety, with a grayish or rusty down. Winged seeds - resembling those of the White Ash, but usually with the end of the wing more rounded. Found - along borders of streams and in low and swampy ground - New Brunswick to Minnesota, and southward to Northern Florida and Alabama; but rare west of the Alleghany Mountains. Its finest growth is in the Northern Atlantic States. General Information - A medium-sized tree, usually thirty to fifty feet high, of less value than the White Ash. Fraxinus from a Greek word meaning "separation," because of the ease with which the wood of the Ash can be split. I find in the notes of an old copy of White's "Natural History of Selborne" this comment: "The Ash, I think, has been termed by Gilpin the Venus of British trees." Gerardes' "Herbal" comments: "The leaves of the Ash are of so great a vertue against serpents, as that the serpents dare not be so bolde as to touch the morning and evening shadowes of the tree, but shunneth them afarre off, as Pliny reporteth in his 16 book, 13 chap. He also affirmeth that the serpent being penned in with boughes laide rounde about, will sooner run into the fire, if any be there, than come neere to the boughes of the Ash."In Scandinavian mythology the great and sacred tree, Yggdrasil, the greatest and most sacred of all trees, which binds together heaven and earth and hell, is an Ash. Its roots spread over the whole earth. Its branches reach above the heavens. Underneath lies a serpent; above is an eagle; a squirrel runs up and down the trunk, trying to breed strife between them.

Genus Fraxinus, L. (Ash)

Leaves - compound (odd-feathered; leaflets, seven to nine); edge of leaflets nearly entire or slightly…

The seal of the United States.

United States Seal

The seal of the United States.

The seal of the western part of the New Jersey colony.

Seal of West Jersey

The seal of the western part of the New Jersey colony.

The seal of the eastern part of the New Jersey colony.

Seal of East Jersey

The seal of the eastern part of the New Jersey colony.

The coat of arms of Brazil.

Brazilian Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Brazil.

The coat of arms of Chile.

Chilean Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Chile.

The coat of arms of China.

Chinese Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of China.

The coat of arms of Colombia.

Colombian Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Colombia.

The coat of arms of Costa Rica.

Costa Rican Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Costa Rica.

The coat of arms of Dominican Republic.

Dominican Republic Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Dominican Republic.

The Coat of Arms of Ecuador.

Ecuador Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Ecuador.

The Coat of Arms of Egypt.

Egyptian Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Egypt.

The Coat of Arms of France.

French Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of France.

The Coat of Arms of Wurtemberg.

Wurtemberg Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Wurtemberg.

The Coat of Arms of Bavaria.

Bavarian Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Bavaria.

The Coat of Arms of Saxony.

Saxony Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Saxony.

The Coat of Arms of Great Britain.

Great Britain Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Great Britain.

The Coat of Arms of Greece.

Greek Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Greece.

The Coat of Arms of Guatemala.

Guatemalan Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Guatemala.

The Coat of Arms of Haiti.

Haitian Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Haiti.

The Coat of Arms of Honduras.

Honduran Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Honduras.

The seal of the Seminole Nation.

Seminole Seal

The seal of the Seminole Nation.

The seal of the Muscogee Nation.

Muscogee Seal

The seal of the Muscogee Nation.

The seal of the Chickasaw Nation.

Chickasaw Seal

The seal of the Chickasaw Nation.

The seal of the Cherokee Nation.

Cherokee Seal

The seal of the Cherokee Nation.

The seal of the Choctaw Nation.

Choctaw Seal

The seal of the Choctaw Nation.

The Coat of Arms of Italy.

Italian Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Italy.

The Coat of Arms of Mexico.

Mexican Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Mexico.

The Coat of Arms of Monaco.

Monaco Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Monaco.

The Coat of Arms of the Netherlands.

Netherlands Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of the Netherlands.

The Coat of Arms of Nicaragua.

Nicaraguan Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Nicaragua.

The Coat of Arms of Paraguay.

Paraguay Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Paraguay.

The Coat of Arms of Peru.

Peruvian Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of Peru.