DICOTVLEDUN^S. 99 



II. ViuGiNiCA L. Witch Hazel. A shiiil) sonietiuies reaching 

 20 ft, ill heiglit ; leaves obovate or oval, acute or obtuse at the apex, 

 cordate or oblique at the base, dentate, stellate-pubescent; flowers in 

 axillary clusters, briglit yellow, nearly sessile ; calyx lobes spreading, 

 pubescent; petals |^-f in. long; capsule woody, beaked by the 2 per- 

 sistent styles, very pubescent. October and November, the fruit 

 recpiiring nearly a year to mature. Common in low woods and on 

 margins of swamps. 



II. LIQUIDAMBAR. 



Trees, the limbs nsiuiUy corky-winged ; llowers moiiee- 

 cious, the staniinate heads sessile, spiked or racemose, the 

 pistillate usually single; calyx and corolla wanting; stamens 

 very numerous, filaments short ; ovary partly inferior, styles 

 2, ovules several in each cell ; the 2-beaked. capsules united 

 into a close head, seeds wing-angled. 



L. Styraciflua L. Sweet-Gum. Large trees; leaves roundish, 

 stellate-lobed, finely serrate, smooth above, often pubescent below; 

 spikes bearing the staminate flowers soon deciduous; the pistillate 

 heads long-peduncled, soon drooping, mature heads spiny, 1-1 j in- 

 in diameter. INIarch-April. A common tree with a resinous juice 

 which hardens into a fraurant uum. 



55. PLATANACEiE. SYCAMORE FAI\IILY. 



Trees; with simple, alternate, petioled, stipulate leaves, the 

 bases of the ])etioles covering the buds ; flowers mono^'cious, 

 in axillary, long-peduncled, globose heads ; calyx and corolla 

 very incoiis})icuous, each consisting of 3-8 minute scales, or 

 wanting; stamens as many as the sepals and opposite them; 

 })istils several, obconical, hairy at the base, styles hmg ; cap- 

 sules 1-seeded. 



PLATANUS. 



Characters of the f;imily. 



P. occiDKNTAMs L. SvcAMoKE, HuTToN WOOD. A large tree, 

 bark light-col()r<!d, smooth, exfoliating in large, thin plates; leaves 

 large, round-cordate, angularly lobed and toothe<l, densely white- 

 woolly when young, becoming smooth with age; stipules large, 



