XI. THE TUPELO TREE. 313 



as well as some small herbaceous plants; in New Holland, the 

 East Indies, and the South Sea Islands, trees and shrubs; in 

 Europe, only in conspicuous weeds. 



One genus of the trees of Massachusetts belongs to it, The 

 Tupelo, Nyssa. L. This is placed by some writers,* in the 

 Linnsean class Dioecia, order Pentandria ; by others,f in Pentan- 

 dria, Monogynia; by Linnaeus himself and others, | in his class 

 Poly garni a. 



On different trees three kinds of flowers are found, some con- 

 taining only stamens, others stamens and a pistil ; others only a 

 pistil. None have a proper corolla. In the staminate flowers, 

 the calyx is five-parted; the stamens from five to ten or twelve, 

 inserted around a glandlike disk. In the pistillate flowers, the 

 calyx is five-cleft; stamens five or none; the style simple, often 

 revolute ; succeeded by a one-seeded, somewhat fleshy drupe, 

 containing an ovate, striate nut. 



This genus is confined to North America. The trees grow 

 by streams or stagnant waters. They have alternate leaves, 

 entire, or with large angular teeth, and are smooth, reticulate or 

 downy beneath; and flowers springing from the axil of the 

 leaves, the male in racemes or heads, the fertile solitary, or with 

 two or three on a stem. 



Of the trees of this kind found in this State, varying exceed- 

 ingly in their shape, and especially in their leaves, I have had 

 great hesitation, whether to consider them as belonging to two 

 or three species, or only as varieties of one. I am rather in- 

 clined to the latter conclusion, and that they belong to the spe- 

 cies which has been called 



THE TUPELO TREE. Ni/ssa multiflora. Walter. 



In Bristol County, and the other south-eastern counties, this 

 is called the Snag Tree, and sometimes Horn Pine. In the 

 western parts of the State, it is called Pepperidge; and often, in 

 every part, it is called Hornbeam, from the extreme toughness 

 of the wood. It is nowhere called Gum Tree, by which name 

 it is commonly known in the Middle and Southern States. The 



* Nuttall, Elliott. | Darlington. % Bigelow. 



41 



