158 DXRCA. No. 33. 



No 33. 



BIHCA PALUSTRIS 



ENGLISH Name— SWAMP LEATHERWOOD- 



French Name — Dircier triflore. 



German Name — Leder-holz. 



Officinal Name — Dirca. 



Vulgar Names Leatherwood, Moosewood, 



Swampwood, Ropebark, (Bois de plomb in Canada.) 



Authorities — Linnaeus, Pursh, Kalm, Bartram, 

 Duhamel, fig. £12. Torrey, Eaton, Elliott, Locke, 

 B. Barton, Zollickoffer, Bigelow, fig. 37, &c. 



Genus Dirca — Perigone simple, colored or corol- 

 liform, tubular, funnelshaped, nearly entire, sub-eight 

 toothed. Stamina eight perigynous, exserted, four 

 alternate longer. Germen free oval, style lateral* 

 Berry one seeded. 



Species D. palustris — Shrubby, branches articu- 

 lated; leaves alternate, subsessile, oval, entire; pe- 

 duncles triflore drooplng. 



DESCRIPTION— Shrub, from three to seven feet 



high, with branches spreading, cylindrlc, flexuose 

 articulate, green, smooth. Leaves alternate or scat- 

 tered, distichal, nearly sessile, petioles very short; 

 shape oval entire, acute at both ends, downy when 

 young, smooth and membranous when full grown, 

 pale beneath, unfolding after the flowers. 



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