; ; ' PLATANACEAE. , 87 
FOTHERGILLA. Dwarf Alder. 
Deciduous shrubs with rather slender rounded somewhat 
zig-zag twigs; somewhat angular homogeneous pale pith; alter- 
nate 2-ranked little-raised half-round leaf-scars with 1 bundle- 
trace; triangular stipule-scars; ovoid sessile buds with a pair of 
stipular scales; rather large roundish stalked leaves subpalm- 
ately nerved, and toothed above the middle; small perfect pale 
flowers in terminal spikes; and globose small hard fruits, 4- 
lobed above the adherent calyx-rim. 
1. Leaves somewhat glaucous beneath, glabrate. F. major. 
Leaves merely paler green beneath. 2. 
2. Leaves large (50 mm.), glabrate. F. monticola. 
Leaves rather small (scarcely 25 mm.). 3. 
3. Leaves sparingly stellate-hairy above, obovate. F. Gardeni. 
Leaves downy above, ovate-cordate. F. parvifolia. 
LIQUIDAMBAR: Sweet Gum. 
Deciduous rather large resinous trees with rather hard light 
brown wood with very numerous minute diffused ducts and 
crowded fine medullary rays; rather stout rounded often corky- 
ridged twigs; angled homogeneous pale pith; alternate half- 
round low leaf-scars with 3 bundle-traces; obscure stipule-scars ; 
ovoid solitary glossy buds with half-a-dozen exposed scales, 
frequently becoming stalked or developing the first season; 
rather large simple palmately nerved and lobed long-stalked 
leaves frequently clustered on spurs; inconspicuous monoecious 
apetalous flowers, the staminate in racemed head-like clusters, 
and the pistillate in a long-stalked head becoming a bur-like ag- 
gregate of inferior dry beaked capsules. 
Leaves with hairy tufts beneath. L. Styraciflua. 
Leaves without hairy tufts. L. orientalis. 
Family PLATANACEAE. Sycamore Family. 
A small family comprising a single genus of rather few 
species, the common button-ball furnishing the characteristic 
wood used for very cheap cigar-boxes: much planted as street 
trees,—the oriental plane frequently pollarded into an umbrella 
form in Europe. 
