268 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART Ill. 
an agreéable odour. The spike of fruits is an inch or more in length, conical, 
an inch in diameter in the widest part, and of a reddish brown colour when ripe. 
This tree begins to flower, in the United States, in May, June, and July ; when 
the perfume of the flowers may be perceived at a considerable distance. A. 
few of these flowers, shut up.in a room over night, communicate to the air a heavy 
and almost insupportable odour. (Bigelow’s Med. Bot., vol. ii. p. 68.) When 
the plant is in a soil supplied with moisture during the summer, it continues 
to produce flowers till the autumn, and retains part of its leaves all the winter: 
in dry situations the leaves drop off. Seeds are frequently ripened in Eng- 
land: they are of a bright scarlet, and they hang down by slender white 
threads, as in all the other American species. The young shoots are from 1 ft. 
to 18 in. in length, and the plant, in ordinary circumstances, will attain the 
height of 12ft. in ten years: when full-grown, it is seldom, either in its native 
country or in England, more than 18 ft. or 20 ft. high; which height in Eng- 
land it arrives at in twenty years. Cie 
Geography. Found in low situations near the sea in North America, from 
Massachusetts to Louisiana; more especially in New Jersey and Carolina, 
where it seldom grows to above 12 ft. high. It has the most extensive range, 
especially near the sea, of ary of the genus. Its most northern boundary 
appears to be in a sheltered swamp in Manchester, Cape Ann, about thirty 
miles north of Boston. It here attains to but small size, and is frequently 
killed to the ground by severe winters. It is common in the middle and 
southern states ; and Michaux informs us that it is one of the most abundant 
trees in the morasses of Florida and Lower Louisiana. According to this 
author, however, it is not usually met with far in the interior, or to the west 
of the mountains. Its common names are various, and change with almost 
every district. It is naturally a tenant of déep boggy swamps, and is some- 
what irregular in its growth. It acquires more symmetry of form when cul- 
tivated in an upland soil, although its transplantation is difficult. To insure 
its successful cultivation in a dry soil, the tree should be raised from the seed. 
(Bigelow’s Med. Bot., vol. ii. p. 68.) 
History. This species was introduced into England by Banister, who sent 
it to Bishop Compton, at Fulham, in 1688, It was soon afterwards generally 
propagated by American seeds, and became known throughout Europe many 
years before any of the other species. 
Soil and Situation. The soil ought to be a deep sand, or a sandy peat, kept 
moist, more especially in summer. The situation should be sheltered and 
shaded by larger trees, but not overtopped by them. 
Properties and Uses. The bark is aromatic and pungent, apparently more so 
than that of most of the other species. When distilled, it hasa peculiar flavour, 
and an empyreumatic smell. Ina dry state it affords a little resin. The aroma is 
volatile, and probably an essential oil or variety of camphor. The bark, seeds, 
and canes, are employed in tincture, with very good success, in chronic rheuma- 
tism.. The inhabitants of the marshy countries of America have used the bark, 
like that of the cinchona, in the case of intermittent and remittent fevers. The 
inhabitants of the countries where the plant is indigenous cure coughs and 
other pectoral diseases by putting the fruit into brandy, and administering 
the decoction every morning. The wood is employed for making joiners’ 
planes. The flowers, in a dried state, may be used in drawingrooms for pot 
pourri, as a substitute for those of the lily of the valley. In Europe, the plant 
can only be considered as ornamental. “yg 
Propagation and Culture. Plants are generally originated from seeds im- 
ported from America; but M. glatca Thompsonidna, and the other varieties, 
are propagated by layers, which require two years to root properly; or by 
inarching. The seeds should be sown in pots of bog earth about the begin- 
ning of March, and placed in gentle heat under glass. In a year they will be 
fit to transplant into small pots; and every year they should be shifted into. 
others of a larger size, till wanted for final planting out. ; 
