450 LEITNERIACE.'E. (LEITNERIA FAMILY.) 



1. M. cerifera, L. (WAX-MYRTLE, BAYBERRY.) Branchlets pubes- 

 cent ; leaves lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, mostly obtuse, eutire, or with a 

 few sharp serratures near the apex, smooth, or pubescent on the veius be- 

 neath, tapering into a petiole ; sterile ameuts very numerous, oblong ; bracts 

 wedge shaped ; stamens 4 ; fertile ameuts small ; bracts rounded, obscurely 3- 

 lobed ; scales of the ovary 4, ciliate ; stigmas 2 ; fruit abundant, white. 

 Margins of swamps, mostly near the coast, Florida, and northward. March - 

 April. A shrub or small tree. Leaves persistent along our southern limits, 

 but northwardly deciduous, l-J-'-4' long. 



Var. pumila, Michx. Low (l-2 high), much branched ; leaves smaller 

 (%' - 2' long), persistent, varying from wedge-obovate to wedge-lanceolate or 

 linear-spatulate, coriaceous, obtuse, mostly toothed near the apex ; aments 

 minute, ovoid, few-flowered. Sandy pine barrens. 



2. M. CarolinensiS, Mill. Branchlets smooth or hairy ; leaves larger, 

 obovate-oblong, entire, or slightly serrate near the apex, mostly rounded or 

 emargiuate at the summit; aments and nuts larger; scales of the sterile 

 flower roundish. We^piue barrens. Shrub 2-4high. Leaves mostly 

 deciduous. 



3. M. inodora, Bartr. Smooth ; leaves perennial, coriaceous, oblong, 

 obtuse, very entire, tapering into a petiole, witli the margins revolute ; sterile 

 ameuts oval or oblong, with the roundish bracts transversely ridged on the 

 back ; stamens about 10, mouadelphous ; fertile aments small, elongated in 

 fruit ; stigmas 2 or 4 ; scales of the ovary 5 ; nuts large, black, commonly soli- 

 tary. Margins of pine barren ponds and swamps, Florida, near the coast. 

 Feb. - March. A shrub or small tree, with whitish bark. Leaves about 2' 

 long, sparingly dotted. Nuts ovoid, 3" long. 



2. COMPTONIA, Solander. SWEET FERN. 



Flowers monoecious. Sterile ament cylindrical, with kidney-shaped acumi- 

 nate bracts. Stamens 3, forked. Fertile ament globular, bur-like. Ovary 

 surrounded by 5 -6 long and slender persistent scales; ovule orthotropous. 

 Stigmas 2, spreading. Nut ovoid-oblong, smooth. Low shrubs, with narrow 

 pinnatifid leaves, and small semicordate stipules. 



1. C. asplenifolia, Ait. Leaves thin, short-petioled, linear-lanceolate, 

 with numerous rounded lobes, deciduous ; fertile ameuts at the base of the 

 sterile, appearing before the leaves. Dry woods, North Carolina, and north- 

 ward. April. Plant l-2 high, aromatic when bruised. Leaves 3' -4' 

 long, resembling those of a feru. 



ORDER 130. LEITNEBIACE^. (LEITNERIA FAMILY.) 



Intermediate between the Wax-Myrtle and Willow Families, and 

 includes only the following genus. 



1. LEITNERIA, Chapm. 



Flowers in aments, dioecious, each in the axil of a scale-like bract. Calyx 

 and corolla none. Sterile ameut many-flowered, cylindrical, elongated ; bracts 



