DIOECIA— TETRANDRIA. Myrica. 239 



Fert.Jl. Catlcin as in the barr. fl. Cal. nearly the same. 

 Cor. none. Germ, ovate, flattish, superior. Styles 2, 

 thread-shaped, spreading, longer than the calyx. Sfigm. 

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

 Seed 1. 



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

 generally more or less serrated, besprinkled with resi- 

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

 lary, expanding early in the following year. 



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



Leaves lanceolate, serrated ; tapering and entire at the 

 base. Scales of the catkins pointed. 



M. Gale. Linn. Sp. PL 1453. M'illd. v. 4. 745. FL Br. 1076. 



E72gL Bof. V. 8. f. 562. Hook. Scot. 288. FL Dan. t 327. Ehrh. 



PL Off. 339. 

 Gale frutex odoratus septentrionalium, Elseagnus Cordo. Raii 



Stjn. 443. Bauh. Hist v. \.p. 2. 224. f. 

 Elseagnus. Cord. HisL 2 1 2. 2./. Lob. Ic. v. 2. 116./. 

 Myrtus brabantica, sive Elseagnus Cordi. Ger. Em. 1414./. 

 Rhus myrtifolia belgica, Bauh. Pin. 414. 

 R. sylvestris altera. Dalech. Hist. MO. f. 



In bogs and marshes, especially on a gravelly soil. 



Shrub. May. 



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

 branches. Leaves alternate, on short stalks, obovate-lanceolate, 

 acute, serrated in their upper part, one inch and half long, deci- 

 duous ; green and smooth on both sides ; the under side palest. 

 C«^/cJ?ii' numerous, sessile, formed during summer in the bosoms 

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

 ing March they are full-grown, expanding in May. Scales 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 rubbed between the 

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

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

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



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

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

 berries boiled in water yield wax, like those of M. cerifera, or 

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

 essential aromatic oil besides. 



