22 



SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. laurace^. 



U'mhellularia Californica was made known to Europeans by Archibald Menzies/ the physician 

 and naturahst who sailed with Vancouver on his voyage o£ discovery, being probably first seen by him 

 in November, 1792, on the shores of the Bay of San Francisco. In Oregon it was discovered ^ in 1826 

 by David Douglas/ who introduced it into the gardens of Europe, where it is occasionally cultivated. 



The California Laurel is one of the stateliest and most beautiful inhabitants of the North American 

 forests, and no evergreen tree of temperate regions surpasses it in the beauty of its dark dense crown 

 of lustrous foliage and in the massiveness of habit which make it one of the most striking features of 

 the California landscape and fit it to stand in any park or garden. 



1 See ii. 90. 



Mag. ii. 127 (Laurus regia). ^ See ii. 94, 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 



Plate CCCVI. Umbellularia Californica. 



1. A flowering branch, natural size- 



2. Diagram of a flower. 



3. An umbel of flowers with expanding involucre, enlarged- 



4. A flower, enlarged. 



5. Vertical section of a flower, enlarged. 



6. A stamen of the first or second series, front view, enlarged 



7. A stamen of the third series, front view, enlarged. 



8. A staminodium, enlarged. 



9. A pistil, enlarged. 



10. An ovule, much magnified. 

 11- A fruiting branch, natural size. 



12. Vertical section of a fruit, slightly enlarged. 



13. An embryo, natural size. 



