N. ORD.—THYMELEACEAS. 146 
GENUS.—DIRCA,* LINN. 
SEX. SYST.—OCTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
DIRCA PALUSTRIS. 
LEATHERWOOD. 
SYN.—DIRCA PALUSTRIS, LINN. 
COM. NAMES.— LEATHERWOOD, MOOSEWOCD, WICOPY, ROPE BARK, 
SWAMPWOOD, THONG BARK, AMERICAN MEZEREON; (FR.) BOIS 
DE PLOMB;7; (GER.) LEDERHOLZ. 
A TINCTURE OF THE FRESH INNER BARK OF DIRCA PALUSTRIS, LINN. 
Description.—This yellowish, largely-branching shrub, attains a height of 
from 3 to 6 feet. Stem erect; wood white, soft and brittle; dark remarkably 
tough and fibrous; dranchlets jointed; buds made up of 3 or 4 large, oval, 
sometimes persistent, dark hairy scales, from which spring the flowers, leaves, 
and shoots of the season. Leaves alternate, oval-obovate or ovate-lanceolate, 
deciduous, short petioled, villous when young and smooth when old. /n/lor- 
escence terminal ternate clusters, those not terminal at the flowering season 
become so by the extension of the young shoots; flowers pendent, honey-yellow, 
slightly sweet-scented, preceding the leaves. Calyx petaloid, funnel-form ; md 
truncate, crenate or nearly 4-toothed. Stamens 8, exserted, alternately longer, 
inserted upon the edge of a disk that encircles the calyx-tube at its point of in- 
flation, and furnished with alternate, small, subulate appendages at their insertion ; 
filaments long and slender. Ovary ovoid; séy/e lateral, filiform, more than twice 
the length of the stamens ; ségma capitate. Fruit a cluster of three, reddish, ovoid, 
mucronate, baccate drupes; seeds large; a/bumen papyraceous. 
Thymeleacess.—This small family consists of shrubs having an acrid, tough 
and fibrous bark. Leaves entire; stipules wanting. Flowers perfect. Calyx regu- 
lar, petaloid, free from the ovary; “md 4- rarely 5-lobed, imbricate in esti- 
vation. Stamens usually twice as many as the lobes of the calyx. Ovary 1-celled ; 
style single, lateral, rarely terminal. /vuz¢t a baccate, 1-seeded drupe; seed sus- 
pended, anatropous ; embryo large; albumen thin or wanting. 
The only genus of this family that is of special interest to us, besides the one 
under consideration, is Daphne, of which we use: mezereon (Daphne mezereum, 
Linn.), and the sweet-scented spurge laurel (Daphne Indica, Linn.). The economi- 
cal history of this order is nevertheless interesting, from the varied uses of the 
species, principally on account of their tough bark. They are mostly indigenous 
to northern India, South America, and the Cape of Good Hope. The family fur- 
* Awen, Dirke; the name of a Thebian fountain; probably on account of the habitat of the plant. 
+ Lead wood, on account of its flexibility. 2 : 
