1316 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART Ili. 
ing 1 seed which is albuminous, and has an embryo that has large leafy coty- 
ledons and a superior radicle. — Male flower. Calyx 5-parted, spreading. 
Stamens 5,8, 10, and 12; surrounding a shield-shaped gland ( ? an unformed 
pistil).—Trees. Leaves alternate, entire. Inflorescence axillary, peduncled, 
of 1 flower, or several aggregate flowers. ? The male flowers in a corymb. 
Fruit red or blackish purple, suffused with a frosty appearance. (JVuié. 
Gen., Lindl. N.S. of Bot., Rees’s Cycl., other sources, and observation.) 
Osy‘ris L. Flowers apetalous, unisexual, at least in effect; those of the 2 
sexes upon distinct plants.—Male. Flowers borne in lateral racemes, about 
3—5 in a raceme, and disposed in 1—2 pairs, with a terminal odd one. 
Calyx spreadingly bell-shaped, 3-parted; its zstivation valvate. Nectary 
disk-like, 3-cornered. Stamens 3, arising from the nectary, alternate to its 
angles, and opposite to the lobes of the calyx; anthers of 2 separate lobes 
that open inwards. (Z'. Nees ab E.) Scopoli (F/. Carn.) has seen the 
rudiments of an ovary,and of styles, in the male flower. (Willd. Sp. Pl.) 
— Female. Flowers solitary. Calyx urceolate; its tube connate with the 
ovary; its limb free, 3-cleft. Style single. Stigmas 3. There are not 
any rudiments of stamens. (7. Nees ab Esenb.) Rather the flower is 
bisexual, but it does not bear seed unless a male plant is contiguous. 
(Willd. Sp. Pl.) Fruit globose, fleshy exteriorly, crowned by the limb of 
the calyx, and the remains of the style. Carpel with crustaceous, brittle 
walls. Seed affixed by its base. Embryo incurved, in the centre of fleshy 
alburaen.—O. alba L., the only known undisputed species, is a shrub with 
twiggy branches, alternate, linear-lanceolate, small leaves, white flowers, and 
red fruit. (2. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. Pi, Flore Germanice.) 
Genus I. 
aes 
“al 
: \ 
x 
v, “ 
NY’SS4 L. Tus Nyssa, or TuPELO Tren. Lin. Syst. Polygamia Dice'cia; 
or rather, according to Smith in Rees’s Cyclopedia, Decandria Monogy¥nia. 
Identification, Lin. Gen., 551. ; Lin, Gen,, ed. Schreb,, No. 1599. ; Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 1112. ; Mill. 
Dict. v. 3.; Rees’s Cyclop. 
Derivation, From Nyssa, a water nymph 60 ¢called; a name given to this plant by Linnzus, 
because ‘ it grows in the waters.” (Hort. Cliff) ‘Tupelo appears to be an aboriginal name. 
Description, §c. Deciduous trees, natives of North America, and, though 
several sorts have been described by botanists, probably all referable to two, 
or at most three, species: viz. N. biflora, N. candicans, and N. tomentdsa, the 
last two being very nearly allied. In the case of Nyssa, as in those of Fraxinus 
and Quércus, there are seeds of several alleged species procured from America ; 
and though plants from these may come up tolerably distinct, we do not con- 
sider that circumstance sufficient to constitute each sort a species. The trees 
of this genus are of little use for their timber ; but the fruit of N. candicans, 
N. tomentosa, and N. denticulata, gathered a little before maturity, and pre- 
served with sugar, forms an agreeable conserve, tasting somewhat like cran- 
berries. (Nuttall Gen.). In British gardens, two or three of the sorts occa- 
sionally occur; but they are not commonin collections. The largest nyssa 
that we know of in England is at Richmond, where, in 1836, it was 40 ft. 
high. The trees which have flowered in England have, as far as we are 
aware, only produced male blossoms; but, to compensate for the want of 
fruit, the foliage of all the species of the genus dies off of an intensely deep 
scarlet. The different sorts are almost always raised from seeds; and seeds 
with the names of N. denticulata, N. tomentésa, N. aquatica (N, biflora), N. 
candicans, and N, sylvatica, according to Charlwood’s Catalogue for 1836, 
are sold at 1s. a packet. Plants, in the London nurseries, are 2s. 6d. each; 
at Bollwyller 2 francs; and at New York, from 25 cents to 1 dollar, 
