CHIONANTHUS, the SNOW-DROP TREE; a genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the dianthia class of plants. There is but one species particularly described by botanists, viz. the Virginica or fringe-tree. It is common in Virginia and South Carolina, where it grows by the sides of rivulets. It rises to the height of ten feet; the leaves are as large as those of the laurel, but much thinner. The flowers come out in May, and are of a pure white; from whence it has the name of the snow-drop tree. They hang down in large branches, and are cut into narrow segments; from which it has got its other name of the fringe-tree. After the flowers are fallen off, the fruit appears, which grows to the size of a floe, having a stone in the middle. The plants are propagated from seeds sown on a hot-bed, and kept in a stove. Some have been raised from layers; but this method is very precarious, and therefore the other is to be preferred. The seeds must be procured from America, for they never come to perfection in this country.