SANTALACE^E. 307 



D.palustris Linn. 



HAB. Woods. Can. to Geor. April. If. Shrub 24 feet 

 high, with tough branches. Leaves alternate, ovate, petioled, 

 entire, obtuse. Flowers appearing before the leaves, yellow. 

 The bark has a sweetish taste, and when chewed excites a burn- 

 ing sensation in the fauces. . Leather Wood. 



ORDER CIV. SANTALACE^. Brown. Lind. 



Teriantli superior, 4 or 5-cleft, half coloured, with valvate 

 aestivation. Stamens 4 or 5, opposite the segments of the pe- 

 rianth and inserted into their bases. Ovary 1-celled, with 

 from 1 4 ovules ; style 1 ; stigma often lobed. Fruit a nut 

 or drupe. Seed solitary ; albumen fleshy ; embryo minute ; 

 radicle superior. 



Trees or shrubs sometimes undershrubs or herbs. Leaves 

 alternate, undivided. 



1. NYSSA. Linn. 



Dioecious. STERILE FL. Perianth 5-parted. Stamens 

 5 10. FERTILE FL. Perianth 5-parted. Stamens 5. 

 Style 1. Drupe inferior, Dioecia. Pentandria. 



1. N. multiflora Walt. : leaves oval-lanceolate, very entire, acute at 

 each end ; the petiole margined and Inidrib villous ; fertile peduncles 

 many-flowered. N. villosa Mich. 



HAB* Low woods. Can. to Car. June. *>. A tree 30 50 

 feet high. Flowers in somewhat umbellate clusters, small, 

 green. Drupe nearly spherical, very dark blue. 



Sour or Black Gum, 



2. N. biflora Walt. : leaves ovate-oblong, very entire, acute at each 

 end, smooth ; fertile peduncles 2-flowered ; drupe oval-compressed. 

 IV. aquatica Linn. 



HAB. Swamps. N. S. S. to Car. June. T? .A tree 3050 

 feet high. Fertile flowers almost invariably 2. Drupe dark blue. 

 The woody fibres of this tree are remarkably interlocked, so 

 as to render it difficult to be split ; on this account it is much 

 used in making naves for carriage wheels, &c. 



Tupelo Tree. Swamp Hornbeam. 



2. HAMILTONIA. Wittd. 



Polygamous. PERFECT FL. Perianth turbinate-campa- 

 nulate, 5-cleft. Germ immersed in the 5-toothed glandulous 

 disk. Style 1. Stigmas 23, sublenticular. Drupe pyri- 

 form, 1-seeded, inclosed in the adhering base of the calyx. 

 STERILE FL. resembling the perfect, except in wanting the 

 pistil. Pentandria. Monogynia. 





