178 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



in conolikc catkins witli entire or 3-l(3bed catkin-scfiles covering 2 or 

 3 flowers which have no evident perianth, bnt are either naked or 

 with 2 floral scales: ovary sessile, 2-celled, with 2 suspended ovules 

 and 2 flliform stigmas, or styles which are stigmatiferous throughout. 

 Fruit a small dry indehiscent 1-cellcd and 1 -seeded nut, or more rarely 

 a 2-celled and 2-seeded nut, with or without a membranous wing or a 

 spongy border. 



GENUS T7._ALNUS. Toumef. 



Male flowers in cylindrical catkins with peltate catkin-scales, to the 

 margins of which minute floral-scales are adnate, each catkin-scale 

 covering 3 flowers; floral-scales combined into a 4-partite perianth (?) 

 round each flower: stamens 4, with short distinct filaments; anthers 

 2-celled. Female catkins ovoid or ovoid-cylindrical, with fleshy 

 broadly-ovate catkin-scales, each covering 2 flowers ; floral-scales 2 to 

 each flower, adnate to the catkin-scale at the base, and not combined 

 into an evident perianth : ovary sessile, 2-celled, with 1 ovule in each 

 cell ; styles 2, elongate, filiform, stigmatiferous throughout. Fruit 

 catkins with large persistent woody catkin-scales, each catkin-scale 

 with the 4 axillary floral-scales united with it and much increased in 

 size. Fruit a minute nut, commonly 1-celled and 1-seeded by abortion 

 of the second cell, compressed, angular, with or without a marginal 

 wing. Cotyledons filling the cavity of the seed, flattish, roundish- 

 cordate. 



Trees or shrubs with roundish or oval serrate or lobed deciduous 

 leaves. Catkins arranged in short racemes. Male catkins produced 

 in autumn, and remaining naked during winter ; female catkins ap- 

 pearing with or shortly after the leaves. 



The derivation of ttie name of this genus of plants is said to be from the Celtic 

 words, al, near, and Ian, the edge of a river, in reference to its habitat ; or from the 

 Hebrew alon, an oak. Dr. Mayne gives it as from Alatus amne, it grows or is nourished 

 by a river or stream. 



SPECIES I.-ALNUS GLUTINOSA. Liun. 



Plate MCCXCIV. 



Ecich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XII. Tab. DCXXXI. Fig. 1295. 

 BiJlnf, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 447. 

 Betula Alnus, Linn. Sm. Engl. Bot. No. 1508. 



Leaves suborbicular or roundish-obovate, usually wedgeshaped at 

 the base, retuse or emarginate, faintly lobed or repand and irregularly 

 serrate-denticulate, glutinous when young, hairy on the nerves and in 



