72 LAURACEAE. 
BENzOIN. Spice Bush. 
(Family Lauraceae). 
Spicily aromatic shrubs: decidu- 
ous. Twigs rounded, slender, 
green or olive with pale lenticels: 
pith relatively large, round, white, 
continuous. Buds rather small, 
superposed, the upper collaterally 
producing green ovoid again 
stalked flower-buds, the foliage 
buds with about 3 scales: end-bud 
lacking. Leaf-scars alternate, cres- 
cent-shaped or half-round, slightly 
raised, small: bundle-traces 3, 
sometimes confluent: stipule-scars 
lacking. 
The spice bush is a native shrub 
deserving of much more exten- 
sive cultivation than it has been 
accorded. It opens the season 
with its interesting little flowers 
and closes it with its bright red 
berry-like fruits. No better ex- 
amples of ‘dehiscence by uplifted valves’ can be found than 
are afforded by its anthers, which offer themselves to obser- 
vation when few other hand-lens attractions, except opening 
buds, are in evidence. The winter-characters of B. aestivale 
(or Lindera Benzoin as it is still sometimes called) are fig- 
ured by Brendel, pl. 3; and Schneider, f. 117. 
Twigs and buds glabrous: flower-buds globose. B. aestivale. 
Loosely hairy: flower-buds pointed. (1). B. melissaefolium. 
Winter-characters of the related Lindera are given by 
Shirasawa. L. glauca, 253, pl. 6; L. hypoleuca, 243, pl. 6; L. 
obtusiloba, 255, pl. 6; L. praecox, 255, pl. 6; L. triloba, 254, 
pl. 6; and L. umbellata, 253, pl. 6. 
