23 



U uv> 



CLETHRA quercifolia. 



Oak-leaved Clethra. 



Nat. ord. Ericaceje. 



CLETHRA, L. Calyx quinque-partitus. Corolla hypogyna, profunde 

 quinque-partita, laciniis spathulatis, conniventibus, seorsim deciduis. Sta- 

 mina 1 0, hypogyna, inclusa ; filamenta filiformia, antherse extrorsae, demum 

 introrsum flexse, cordatse, apice mucronatse, dorso muticse. Ovarium trilo- 

 culare, loculis multiovulatis. Stylus filiformis, persistens ; stigma obsolete 

 trifidum. Capsula calyce cincta, trilocularis, loculicid& trivalvis, valvis medio 

 septiferis, placentis e basi erectis, a columna centrali solutis. Semina plu- 



rima, testa fungosa, laxa. Frutices v. arbores, in America boreali et tropica 



crescentes ; foliis alternis, serratis v. rarius integerrimis ; racemis terminalibus 

 bracteatis, albidis. — Endlicher Gen. PI. no. 4320, 



C. quercifolia ; foliis obovato-lanceolatis acutis denticulatis basi obtusis supra 

 rugosis subtus petiolisque tomentosis junioribus ferrugineis adultis m- 

 canis, racemis laxis congesto-paniculatis tomentosis, corollse lobis den- 

 tatis ciliatis calyce longioribus, genitalibus inclusis. 



C. tinifolia. Schlecht. in Linncea, 8. 524. nee Swartzii. 



A handsome evergreen green-house shrub, with deliciously 

 fragrant flowers, inhabiting the neighbourhood of Jalapa in 

 Mexico. Our specimens were supplied by the Honourable 

 and Very Reverend the Dean of Manchester, in March, 1841. 



That it is Schlechtendahl's CI. tinifolia I know from com- 

 paring it with authentic specimens from himself. 



That it is not C. tinifolia of Swartz I have ascertained 

 from specimens collected in Jamaica by Masson, and now in 

 my herbarium. That plant has lucid, very obtuse, perfectly 

 entire leaves, very much closer racemes than this, smaller 

 flowers, and is the same as Hartweg's No. 488, which Mr. 

 Bentham regards as C. mexicana of DeCandolle. To those 

 plants the name is strictly applicable, for the leaves are very 

 like the Laurestinus ; to this it is not at all applicable, for 



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