1320 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART 111. 



distinctly etrlatcd. The wood is extremely light and soft ; and as, in the arrangement of its fibres, it 

 resembles other species of the same genus, it is employed for making bowls and trays. The roots, 

 also, are tender and light, and they are used by fishermen to buoy up their nets with, instead of 

 cork. {Ituil.) This species is described in Martyn's Mi/iir as the Virginian water tupelo tree, 

 rising, with a strong upright trunk, to the height of 80 ft. or ICK) ft., and dividing into many 

 branches towards the top. The drupes, Professor Martyn adds, " are nearly the size and shape of 

 small olives, and are preserved as that fruit is, by the French inhabitants of the Mississippi, where 

 this species of Nj'ssn greatly abounds, and is called the olive tree. The timber is white and soft 

 when unseasoned, but light and compact when dry ; which renders it very proper for bowls, &c." 

 It sometimes varies, in having the leaves quite glabrous, and less deeply toothed. 



Genus II. 



OSY^RIS L. The Osyris, or Poet's Casia. Lin. Syst. Dice Via Triandria. 



Identification. Lin. Gen. PI. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 715. 

 Si/nonyine. Cksia Camcr., Lob., A /pin., Gesn. 



Derivation. The Osuris of Pliny and Dioscorides is so named from oxos, a branch ; from the length 

 and pliability of the branches. 



• 1. O. a'lba L, The wh'ite-^owo-ed Osyris, or PoeCs Casia. 



Identification. Lin. Sp. PI., 1450. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 715. ; Koy. Lugdb., 202. ; 

 Sauv. Monsp., 56. ; Gouan Monsp., 502. ; Gron. Orient., o08. ; Mill. Diet., No. 

 1. ; Scop. Cam., No. 1215. 

 Synonymt's. 0. ffiliis linearibus aciltis Lorfl. It., 169. ; 0. frutescens baccffera 

 Bau/i. Pin., 212. ; Cisia poetica Monspeliensium Cam. Epit., 26., Lob. Ic, 

 432. ; CJisia Latinorum A/p. Exot., 41. ; C^sia Monspelii dicta Gesn. Epit., 50. ; 

 weisse Osyris, Ger 

 Engravings. Lam. 111., t. 802. ; T. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. Plant. Fl. Ger. Ic. et 



des must., t. 20. ; and our Jig. 1202. 

 Spec. Char., ^c. A shrub 3—4 ft. high. Stem roundish, striated. Leaves alter- 

 nate, linear-lanceolate, 1 in. long, entire, glabrous. Flowers upon the branch, 

 lets, pedunclcd. Drupe red, of the size of a pea. (JVilld.) A native of Italy, 

 Spain, Montpelier, Libanus, and Carniola. Introduced in 1793, and cultivated 

 by Miller; but we have not seen the plant The long supple branches of this 

 tree were formerly used for brushes, and they are still used in making crates, 

 or packing-cases in the south of Europe. It is celebrated by Keats for the 

 whiteness of its flowers : — 



" A dimpled hand. 



Fair as some wonder out of Fairy-land, 



Hung from his shoulder : like the drooping flowers 



Of whitest casia, fresh from eummer showers " Poems, p. 24. 



CHAP. XCVII. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER £LJEAGNA^CEJE, 



TiiEY are included in three genera, ^Iseagnus Toiirn., /Tippophae L., and 

 Shepherd/rt Nutt. ; and these have the following characters : — 



^ljea'gnus Tourn. Flowers, some bisexual ; some, in result, male only; 

 both kinds upon one plant. — Bisexual flower. Calyx resembling, internally, 

 a corolla; tubular below, bell-shaped above, with a slightly spreading, lobed, 

 deciduous limb ; the lobes mostly 4 ; the tubular part includes, but is not 

 connate with, the ovary and part of the style, and bears at its mouth a 

 conical crown, through which the style passes. Style long. Stigma clavate 

 or coiled. Stamens arising from the bottom of the bell-shaped part, 

 shorter than it, alternate with its lobes, the filaments adnate to it, except at 

 their tip. Ovary oblong. Ovule 1. Fruit consisting of an achenium, and 

 of the tubular part of the calyx rendered fleshy, and including the achenium. 

 Seed erect. Embryo erect. — Male flower. Calyx resembling, internally, 

 a corolla, bell-shaped; it has a limb of 4 — 6 — 8 lobes. Stamens of the 

 number of the lobes ; otherwise as in the bisexual flower. A conical crown 



