318 SALICACE^. 



Woods. N. Y. to Car. W. to Miss. May— A tree 15—25 feet high, with 

 spreading branches. Leaves often variously lobed. Flowers greenish, small, 

 in numerous axillary pedunculate spikes. Fruit oblong, of an agreeable sweet- 

 ish taste. The wood is remarkable for its durability. Red Mulberry. 



2. M. alba Linn. : leaves cordate, ovate, unequal at base, somewhat 

 lobed, acute, serrate, smoothish, shining ; flowers monoecious ; fruit usually 

 whitish. 



Near old fields, &c. May. — A tree 20 — 30 feet high, much branched. Leaves 

 sometimes a little lobed. Fruit shorter than in the preceding, sweetish but 

 nauseous. Originally introduced as food for the silk- worm. White Mulberry. 



Order CXIV. SAURURACE^.— Saururads. 



Flowers naked, seated upon a scale. Stamens definite, cla- 

 vate, persistent ; anthers continuous with the slender filaments. 

 Ovaries 3 or 4, more or less distinct. Fruit consisting of 3 or 

 4 fleshy indehiscent nuts, or a 3- or 4-celled capsule. Embryo 

 minute, in a fleshy sac, on the outside of hard mealy albumen. 

 — Herbaceous plants, growing in marshy places. Leaves alter- 

 nate, with stipules. Flowers in spikes. 



SAURURUS. im^i.— Lizard's Tail. 



(From the Greek aavpa, a lizard and ov^a, a tail ; in allusion to its spike of 

 flowers.) 



Flowers in a solitary spike. Scales 1 -flowered. Stamens 

 6 — 8 ; filaments free, elongated. Fruit 3- or 4-celled ; the car- 

 pels easily separating at maturity, 1- rarely 2 -seeded, not 

 opening. 



S*. cernuus Linn. 



Swamps. Llan. to Car. Aug. %. — Stem 1 — 2 feet high, leafy, forked above, 

 angular and sulcate. Leaves sagittate-cordate, acuminate, nerv^ed beneath. 

 iJlowers very small, greenish-white, in a long slender spike, which is at first 

 cemuous at the apex, but in fruit erect. Lizard's Tail. Swamp Lily. 



Order CXV. SALICACE^.— Willows. 



Flowers dioecious, naked, or with a membranous scale or 

 bract, amentaceous. Sterile Fl. Stamens 2 — 12 or more, 

 sometimes monadelphous. Fertile Fl. Ovary superior, 1 

 celled; style 1 or none ; stigmas 2, often '2-cleft or 2-parted. 

 Fruit leathery, 1 -celled, 2-valved, many-seeded. Seeds covered 

 with long silky hairs. Albumen none. — Trees or shrubs. 

 Leaves alternate, simple, serrate or entire, furnished with stip- 

 ules. The bark is usually bitter, and contains more or less of 

 the peculiar principle called Salicine. 



• 



