GENUS i. 



SWEET-LEAF FAMILY. 



721 



In fields and woods, Connecticut to Iowa, Kansas, Florida and Texas. Wood hard, brown ; 

 weight per cubic foot 49 Ibs. Jove's-fruit. Winter- or seeded-plum. Possum-wood. May-June. 

 Fruit Sept.-Xov. 



Family ii. SYMPLOCACEAE Miers; Lindl. Veg. Kingd. Ed. 3, 593. 1853. 



SWEET-LEAF FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, with entire or dentate broad leaves, and small or middle-sized 

 regular mostly yellow and perfect flowers, in lateral or axillary clusters. Calyx- 

 tube completely or partly adnate to the ovary, its limb 5~lobed, the lobes imbricated 

 in the bud. Corolla 5-parted, sometimes very nearly to the base, the segments 

 imbricated. Disk none. Stamens numerous in several series, inserted on the 

 base or tube of the corolla; filaments filiform, usually slightly united in clusters 

 at the base of each corolla-segment; anthers innate, laterally dehiscent. Ovary 

 2-5-celled, inferior or partly superior; ovules commonly 2 in each cavity, pendu- 

 lous ; style one ; stigma one. Fruit a small mostly nearly dry drupe, usually with 

 i oblong seed ; embryo straight ; endosperm fleshy. 



Only the following genus, comprising about 200 species, natives of America, Asia and Austral- 

 asia, most abundant in South America. The following is the only known North American species. 



i. SYMPLOCOS Jacq. Enum. PI. Carib. 5, 24. 1760. 



Characters of the family. Type species: Symplocos martinicensis Jacq. [Greek, con- 

 nected, referring to the stamens.] 



i. Symplocos tinctoria (L.) L'Her. Sweet-leaf. Horse-sugar. Fig. 3308. 



Hopca tinctoria L. Mant. 105. 1767. 



S. tinctoria L'Her. Trans. Linn. Soc. i : 176. 1791. 



A shrub or small tree, sometimes attaining 

 a height of 35 and a trunk diameter of 9'. 

 Leaves rather coriaceous, oblong or slightly 

 obovate, acute or acuminate at both ends, 

 crenate-serrate with low teeth or repand, 

 short-petioled, puberulent or pubescent on both 

 sides when young, glabrous or nearly so above 

 and dark green when old, pale and persistently 

 pubescent beneath, 3'-6' long, I'-tf wide, de- 

 ciduous at the northern range of the species, 

 persistent at the south, turning yellowish-green 

 in drying; flowers bright yellow, fragrant, 

 4"-6" broad, in sessile scaly-bracted clusters, 

 appearing at the north before the leaves ; 

 corolla almost polypetalous, its segments ob- 

 long, obtuse, each bearing a cluster of stamens ; 

 drupe dry, nut-like, oblong, 3"-6" long, pubes- 

 cent, crowned with the small calyx lobes. 



Woods and thickets, Delaware to Florida, 

 Arkansas and Louisiana. Wood soft, weak, pale 

 red or white ; weight per cubic foot 33 Ibs. Yel- 

 low wood. Florida laurel. Dye-leaves. March- 

 April. 



Family 12. STYRACACEAE A. DC. Prodr. 8 : 244. 1844. 

 STORAX FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, with alternate exstipulate leaves. Flowers regular, perfect, 

 or rarely polygamo-dioecious, clustered, sometimes appearing before the leaves. 

 Pubescence mostly stellate. Calyx more or less adnate to the ovary, 4-8-toothed, 

 or entire. Corolla gamopetalous or polypetalous, the lobes or petals 4-8. Stamens 

 twice as many as the lobes of the corolla or petals, or more, inserted on its tube 

 or base, arranged in i series, the filaments monadelphous or 4-5-adelphous ; 

 anthers mostly introrse. Disk none. Ovary partly superior, 2-5-celled ; ovules 

 solitary or few in each cavity, anatropous; style slender; stigma simple or 

 2-5-lobed. Fruit a berry or drupe, or often nearly dry, winged in some genera, 

 i-seeded, or 2-5-celled with a seed in each cavity. Endosperm copious, fleshy; 

 embryo usually straight ; cotyledons flat. 



About 7 genera and 75 species, mostly tropical, most abundant in South America. 



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