EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 



467 



volatile oil, to which their qualities are due. Camphor is obtained 

 from Camphora officinarum of Japan, China, «fec. Cinnamon is the 

 bark of Cinnamomum Zeylanicum ; Cassia barl; of Cinnamomum 

 aromaticum of China. The aromatic bark and wood and the very- 

 mucilaginous leaves of our own Sassafras are well known. Our 

 Benzoin odoriferum is the Spice-wood, or Feverbush. Laurus 

 nobilis is the true Laurel, or Sweet Bay. Persea gratissima, of the 

 West Indies, bears the edible Avocado pear. 



899. Ord. TliymelaceiE {Mezereum Family). Shrubby plants, with 

 perfect flowers, and a very tough bark ; the tube of the petaloid 

 calyx being free from the (one-ovuled) ovary ; its lobes imbricated 

 in aestivation ; the pendulous seed destitute of albumen. Stamens 

 often twice as many as the lobes of the calyx, inserted upon its tube 



1119 



1120 



1121 



1118 



or throat. — Ex. Daphne and Dirca (Leather-wood, Moose-wood, 

 Wickopy, Avhich is the only North American genus). The touf^h 

 bark is acrid, or even blistering, and is also useful for corda"-e. The 

 reticulated fibres of the liber in the Lagetta or Lace-bark of Jamaica 

 may be separated into a kind of lace. The berries are more or 

 less deleterious. 



900. Ord. EleagnaceSB (Oleaster Family). Shrubs or small trees, 

 with the flowers more commonly dioecious ; readily distinguished 

 from the preceding by having the foliage and shoots covered with 

 scurf, by the ascending albuminous seed, and the persistent tube of 



FIG. 1118. Flowering branch of Dirca palustris. 1119. A flower. 1120. The same, laid 

 ,opeii and enlarged. 1121. Branch in fruit. 



