DIOKCIA— TETKANDUIA. Myrica. ^39 



Feti.Jl, Catkin as in the barr. fl. Cal. nearly the same. 

 Cor. none. Germ, ovate, flattish, suj^erior. Styles 2, 

 thread-bhaped, spreading, longer than the calyx. Stigm. 

 simple, acute. Berry of 1 cell, various in substance. 

 Secdl. 



Aromatic shrubs. Leaves mostly, if not always, simple, 

 generally more or less serrated, besprinkled with resi- 

 nous dots. Stijmlas none, or evanescent. Catkins axil- 

 lary, expanding early in the following year. 



1. M. Gale. Sweet Gale, or Dutch Myrtle. 



Leaves lanceolate, serrated; tapering and entire at the 

 base. Scales of the catkins pointed. 



M. Gale. Linn. Sp. PI. 14.33. mild. v. 4. 745. Fl. Br. \070. 

 En-l. Bot.v. 8. t. o02. Hook. Scot. 28S. Fl. Dan. t.'617. Ehrh. 

 PL Of. 339. 



Gale frutex odoratiis septentiionalium, Elseagnus Cordo. Rail 

 Sijn. 443. Bank. Hist. v. 1 . p. 2. 224. f. 



Elaeagnus. Cord. Hist. 2\2. 2. f. Lob. lc.v.2. \\6.f. 



Myrtus brabanlica, sive ElcEagnus Cordi. Ger. Em. 1414./. 



Rhus myrtifolia belgica. Bank. Pin. 414. 



R, sylvestris altera. Dalech. Hist. 110./. 



In bogs and marshes, especially on a gravelly soil. 



Shrub. Majj. 



Stem upright, bushy, 3 or 4 feet high, with numerous alternate 

 branches. Lef/re/alternate, on short stalks, obovatc-lanccolate, 

 acute, serrated in their upper ])art, one inch and half long, deci- 

 duous ; green and smooth on both sides 5 the underside palest. 

 Ca//ti«i- numerous, sessile, formed during summer in the bosoms 

 of the leaves, and remaining through the winter. In the follow- 

 ing Marcli they are full-grown, expanding in May. Sccdcs of 

 a red shining brown ; the lower ones of the fertile catkins hairy 

 towards the tip. Berries very small, covered with resinous 

 dots, exhaling a delightful fragrance when rvd)bed between the 

 fingers. The leaves arc fragrant from the same cause. Some- 

 times barren and fertile aitlcins are produced by the same indi- 

 vidual, as was first remarked by the late Mr. Tempkton. 



This plant, perhaps one of the more innocent substitutes for Hops, 

 is used for brewing by the poor in Sweden. Linnteus says the 

 berries l)oiled in water yield wax, like those of M. ccrifera, or 

 Candle-bf rry Myrtle. If so, they should seem to secrete an 

 essential aromatic oil besides. 



