MTRICACE.E. ( WAX-MYRTLE FAMILY.) 127 



Fcrrntnr^! near the apex, smooth, or pubescent on the veins beneath, tapering 

 into a petiole ; sterile aments very numerous, oblong ; bracts wedge-shaped ; 

 stamens 4 ; fertile aments small; bracts rounded, obscurely 3-lobed ; scales of 

 the ovary 4, ciliate; stigmas 2; fruit abundant, white. — Margins of swamp-, 

 mostly near the coast, Florida, and northward. March and April. — A shrub 

 or small tree. Leaves persistent along our southern limits, but northwardly 

 deciduous, 1 y - 4' long. 



Var. media, Michx. Branchlets smooth or hairy ; leaves larger, obovate- 

 oblong, entire, or slightly serrate near the apex, mostly rounded or emarginate 

 at the summit ; aments and nuts larger ; scales of the sterile flower roundish. — 

 Wet pine barrens. — Shrub 2° -4° high. Leaves mostly deciduous. 



Var. puxnila, Michx. Low (1°- 2° high), much branched ; leaves smaller 

 (¥-~' long), persistent, varying from wedge-obovate to wedge-lanceolate or 

 linear-spatulate, coriaceous, obtuse, mostly toothed near the apex ; aments 

 minute, ovoid, few-flowered. — Sandy pine barrens. 



2. M. inodora, Bartr. Smooth; leaves perennial, coriaceous, oblong, 

 obtuse, very entire, tapering into a petiole, with the margins revolute ; sterile 

 aments oval or oblong, with the roundish bracts transversely ridged on the 

 back ; stamens about 10, monadelphous ; fertile aments small, elongated in 

 fruit ; stigmas 2 or 4 ; scales of the ovary 5 ; nuts large, black, commonly soli- 

 tary. — Margins of pine-barren ponds and swamps, Florida, common near the 

 coast. Feb. - March. — A shrub or small tree, with whitish bark. Leaves 

 about 2' long, sparingly dotted. Nuts ovoid, 3" long. 



2. COMPTONIA, Solander. Sweet-Fern. 



Flowers monoecious. Sterile ament cylindrical, with kidney-shaped acumi- 

 nate bracts. Stamens 3, forked. Fertile ament globular, bur-like. Ovary 

 surrounded by 5 - 6 long and slender persistent scales ; ovule orthotropous. 

 Stigmas 2, spreading. Nut ovoid-oblong, smooth. — Low shrubs, with narrow 

 pinnatifid leaves, and small semicordate stipules. 



1. C. asplenifolia, Ait. Leaves thin, short-petioled, linear-lanceolate, 

 with numerous rounded lobes, deciduous ; fertile aments at the base of the 

 sterile, appearing before the leaves. — Dry woods, North Carolina, and north- 

 ward. April. — Plant l°-2° high, aromatic when bruised. Leaves 3' -4' 

 long, resembling those of a fern. 



3. LEITlSTEFvIA, N. Gen. 



Flowers in aments, dicecious, each in the axil of a scale-like bract. Calyx 

 and corolla none. Sterile ament many-flowered, cylindrical, elongated ; bracts 

 ovate, acuminate, imbricated, staminiferous at the base, hairy, the lower ones 

 empty; stamens 5-10, free: anthers 2-celled, introrse. Fertile ament few- 

 many-flowered, narrowly cylindrical, short, in fruit elongated ; bracts ovate, ap- 

 proximate, at length scattered, the lower ones empty. Ovary ovoid, nearly 

 smooth, with the base surrounded by a cup of 4 minute ovate toothed scales. 

 Ovule solitary, amphitropous. Stigma solitary, thick, elongated, channelled. 



