242 STYRACACEAE 



of a minute calyx and a white corolla ]/2 to }^ inch long. The 

 4-celled ovary develops into an oblong, 4-winged fruit 1 to 1 1/4 

 inches long and usually somewhat longer than the pedicel on 

 which it stands. It is capped by the persistent style. 



Distribution. — The Silverbell inhabits wooded slopes and 

 banks along streams from West Virginia to Illinois and south 

 to Florida and Alabama. In Illinois, it is a rare shrub, with 

 known occurrence that includes only the Wabash River valley, 

 in Wabash County, and the Ohio River valley, in the vicinity 

 of Metropolis. 



STYRAX (Tournefort) Linnaeus 

 The Snowbells 



The snowbells are shrubs or small trees with alternate, 

 deciduous leaves and large, drooping flowers borne in lateral 

 or terminal racemes before the leaves appear. The calyx is 

 persistent, adnate to the ovary, and 5-toothed, and the corolla 

 is 5-parted and incloses 10 stamens. The ovary, which is 

 3-celled, develops into a globose to oblong, nearly dry, leathery 

 fruit, which commonly is only 1 -seeded. 



There are between 70 and 80 species of snowbells, widely 

 distributed in America, Europe and Asia. Of the 5 that grow 

 in southern and western parts of the United States, the follow- 

 ing 2 are native in Illinois. 



Key to the Shrubby Species 



Foliage and inflorescence glabrous S. americana 



Lower surface of leaves and inflorescence stellate-pubescent 



S. pulverulenta 



STYRAX AMERICANA Lamarck 



American Snowbell Smooth Storax 



The American Snow^bell, fig. 63, is a slender, erect shrub 

 4 to 8 feet high with grayish or reddish-brown stems clothed 

 in very thin bark and covered by stellate pubescence, the branch- 

 lets being more or less densely pubescent. The leaves are al- 

 ternate, without stipules, oval to obovate, and 1 to 3 inches 

 long by ],2 to 1 inch wide. They are pinnately veined, with 

 the principal veins prolonged beyond the margin into short, 

 incurved hooks, so that the margin appears obscurely and 



