420 
CUPULIFERA2. (oak family.) 
the base. — Rich woods, not rare. April, May; the large and hand¬ 
some oval-oblong strobiles full grown in Aug. Tree 20°-40° high; 
the whitish wood as hard as in the foregoing. 
Order 102. MYRICACEJE. (Sweet Gale Family.) 
Monoecious or dioecious shrubs , with both kinds of flow¬ 
ers in short scaly catkins , and resinous-dotted often fra¬ 
grant leaves , — differing from the Birch Family chiefly by 
the 1-celled ovary with a single erect orthotropous ovule, 
and a drupe-like nut. Involucre none. 
MYBfclCA, L. Bayberry. Wax Myrtle. 
Flowers dioecious : the sterile in oblong or cylindrical, the fer¬ 
tile in ovoid catkins, closely imbricated ; both destitute of calyx 
and corolla, solitary under a scale-like bract and with a pair of 
bractlets. Stamens 2 - 8 : filaments somewhat united below. 
Ovary with 3 scales at its base, and 2 thread-like stigmas. Fruit 
a small globular nut, studded with resinous grains or wax. (Mv- 
P lKr h *be ancient name of the Tamarisk or some other shrub; per¬ 
haps from fivplfa, to perfume.) 
1- HI. Gale, L. (Sweet Gale.) Leaves wedge-lanceolate, ser- 
ratc towards the apex ; pale , appearing later than the flowers; sterile 
catkins closely clustered; nuts in imbricated heads, inclosed in the 
thick pointed ovate scales which coalesce with its base. — Wet bor¬ 
ders of ponds, common northward. April. — Shrub 3° - 5° high. 
2- M. cerifera, L. (Bayberry. Wax Myrtle.) Leaves 
o ong-lanceolate , narrowed at the base, entire or wavy-toothed to¬ 
wards the apex, shining and resinous-dotted both sides , somewhat pri¬ 
ce mg the flowers; sterile catkins scattered , oblong; scales wedge- 
shaped at the base; nuts scattered and naked, incrusted with white 
vax. Sandy soil on and near the sea-sbore : also on Lake Erie. 
May. — Shrub 2P-8> high, with fragrant leaves : the catkins sessile 
along the last year’s branches; the fruits persistent for 2 or 3 years. 
COMPTO^IA, Solander. Sweet Fern. 
Flowers moncecious; the sterile in cylindrical catkins, with 
kidney-heart-shaped pointed scale-like bracts, and 3-6 stamens; 
the fertile in globular aments, burr-like : ovary surrounded by 5 - 
6 long linear-awl-shaped scales, persistent around the ovoid-obloDg 
smooth nut; otherwise as in Myrica. — Leaves linear-lanceolate, 
