2C32 



AUBOKKIUM AND FliUTICElUM. 



PAIIT 111. 



in an unexpected and satisfactory manner. In its amen- 

 taceous inflorescence, ini[)crfect flowers, superior calyx, 

 and mode of germination, Garryr/ is very similar to Cu- 

 pulifi.rae, Irom wliicii it iliffcrs most essentially in its wood 

 without concentric circles or dotted vessels, its opposite 

 exstipulate leaves, simple fruit, and minute embryo lying 

 in a great mass of albumen. The latter characters bring 

 it near /^iperaceze and their allies, especially Chlorantheas, 

 with which its zoneless wood (for C'hloranthus has no 

 annual zones), simple fruit, and opposite leaves, also 

 agree; but the stipules of rhlorantheae, together with 

 its achlamytleous bisexual flowers, and articulated stems, 

 distinctly stfiarate that order." {But. 2ieg., t. IGSti.) 

 Only the male plant of (iarry« elliptica is in the country. 

 Wheu in flower (which it is from December till April), the 

 plant has a most striking and graceful appearance, from 

 its slender pendulous catkins, many of which are Sin. to 1 ft. in 1 

 was at first grown in peat, but appears to prefer a loamy soil. It 

 increased b\ layers; and by cuttings in sand under a hand-glass, 

 the Fulhani Nursery, in 1837, were 21s, each. 



cngth. 

 is read 

 Plants, 



CHAP. CVII. 



OF IHE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER PLATANA'CEjE. 



/'la'tanus Toiirn. Flowers unisexual; those of the two sexes upon one 

 plant, and those of each sex disposed many together, and densely, in 

 globular catkins, that are sessile upon pendulous rachises, 2 generally upon 

 a rachis ; the flowers of each sex upon a scjiarate rachis, [)roduced Horn a 

 separate bud. — Catkin of male flowers constituted of minute, rather fleshy, 

 persistent bracteas, and of deciduous stamens. Filaments very short, 

 situated between the bracteas, and of about their length. Anthers of 

 2 cells, longer than the filament; attached longitudinally to a conuectivum, 

 which is broader than the fdament, and has a peltate ti[). — Catkin of female 

 flowers constituted of bracteas and pistils. Pistils numerous, approxi- 

 mately pairs. Ovary of 1 cell, incluiling I — 2 pendulous ovules. Stigmas 

 2, long, thread-shaped, glanded in the u[)per part. Fruit a utricle, densely 

 covered with articulated hairs, including I pendulous, oblong, exalbuminous 

 seed. — Species, about 4. Natives of the temperate zones of the eastern 

 and western hemispheres. Tall trees. Leaves alternate, palmate, annual; 

 their margins revolute in the bud. Leaf-bud covered with a conical enve- 

 lope ; and iuHuersed, in the precLding year, in the base of the |)etioIe. {T. 

 Kecs ah Esscnh. Gen. PL Fl. Gcnn.,\\\i\ observation.) The young shoots, 

 leaves, and stipules are thickly covered with down, which as soon as they 

 become fully expanded is cast oft", and, floating in the atmosphere, is iidialed 

 bv gardeners and others who have occasion to be much among the trees, 

 and [)roduces a cough which is extremely disagreeable, and is not got rid 

 offor several weeks. Tiie inconvenience arising from this down, Michaux 

 informs us, is well known in America, and it has been long familiar to 

 French nurserynicn. M. Ch. Morren, Professor of Botany at the Uni- 

 versity of Liege, gives an account of it in the Transaclium of the Royal 

 Acadiiiii/ of Jirmsch, under the title of " Note sur TEftet peruicieux du 

 Duvet du Platanc;" the only |)reventivc which he mentions is the ob- 

 vious one adopted by M. Heurard, nurseryman at Liege, viz., that of co- 

 vering the nose and the mouth with a handkerchief of fine gauze. (See 

 p. 2015., and U Echo du Monde S/ivanl, Jan. G. 1H3S.) 



