336 MYBICACEAE 



Order 4. LEITNERIALES. 



Dioecious shrubs or trees, with a watery sap, slightly furrowed bark and terete 

 pithy branchlets. Leaves alternate : blades entire, leathery-membranous, elon- 

 gated, the margins slightly thickened, undulate, deciduous : stipules wanting. 

 Aments dioecious, appearing before the leaves : staminate with acuminate con- 

 cave imbricated bracts inserted on a stout pubescent rachis : perianth wanting : 

 stamens 3-12, inserted on the receptacle-like stalk of the bract : filaments filiform- 

 subulate, slightly dilated at the base, incurved : anthers introrse, notched at the 

 apex. Pistillate aments mostly near the ends of the branchlets, the bracts like 

 those of the staminate, but acute, subtending the minute perianth of gland-fringed 

 scales. Gynoecium a single carpel. Ovary sessile or nearly so, 1-celled, ob- 

 lique : style eccentric, constricted at the junction with the ovary : stigma in- 

 trorse. Ovule solitary, ascending, half-anatropous. Fruit a collection of drupes 

 each subtended by the little-changed bract. Embryo with cordate cotyledons. 



FAMILY 1. LEITNERIACEAE Drude. CORKWOOD FAMILY. 



One genus in the southern and south-central United States. Its morpholog- 

 ical characters associate it with MYRICACEAE, while its anatomy is nearer to that 

 of the HAMAMELIDACEAE. 



1. LEITNERIA Chapm. 

 Characters of the order. 



Leitneria Florldana Chapm. A shrub or small tree, reaching a height of 7 m. and a 

 maximum trunk diameter of 14 cm., with a gray bark and very light wood. Leaf-bladi', 

 narrowly elliptic, oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, or rarely oval, 10-20 cm. long, mostly at-utis 

 sometimes obtuse or apiculate, becoming thickish, rugose, glabrous above except the mid- 

 rib and lateral nerves, densely pubescent beneath ; petioles 3-6 cm. long, pubescent : 

 staminate aments cylindric, 3-4 cm. long, pubescent, with triangular-ovate, acuminate 

 bracts varying from 4-5 mm. in length : pistillate aments smaller than the staminate, their 

 bracts ovate, acute, pubescent : ovary pubescent : stigma rather foliaceous : drupes elliptic, 

 15-17 mm. long, slightly compressed. The wood weighs about 12 pounds to the cubic 

 foot, being lighter than cork and probably the lightest wood known. 



In swamps, southern Missouri to Texas and Florida. Spring. 



Order 5. MYRICALES. 



Dioecious or sometimes monoecious aromatic shrubs or small trees, commonly 

 with a smooth bark. Leaves alternate, mostly without stipules : blades simple, 

 resinous-dotted. Staminate flowers in elongated axillary aments, each consist- 

 ing of 2-8 stamens on a bract. Filaments short, somewhat united at the base. 

 Anthers extrorse. Pistillate flowers in short axillary aments. Gynoecium of 2 

 united carpels on a bract, subtended by two bractlets and surrounded by 2-8 

 short or elongated scales. Ovary 1-celled. Stigmas 2, filiform. Ovule solitary, 

 erect, orthotropous. Fruit a nut, whose epicarp often excretes particles of wax. 

 Seed solitary, with a thin-membranous testa. Embyrd central. 



FAMILY 1. MYRICACEAE Dumort. BAYBERRY FAMILY. 

 Characters of the order. 



Leaf-blades pinnatifid; stipules present: scales surrounding the ovary 8, awl-shaped, conspicuous. 



1. COMPTONIA. 

 Leaf-blades entire or toothed ; stipules wanting : scales surrounding the ovary 2-4, very 



short, inconspicuous. 2. MORELLA. 



