THYMELEACEAE 253 



1. D. palustris, L. Bushy; leaves obovate-oblong, acute at 

 each end, subsessile ; buds densely villous, 1- 2- or 3-flowered. 

 MARSH DIRCA. Leather-wood. 



Stem 2 to 4 or 5 feet high, slender, much branched from the hase, the branches 

 apparently jointed, flexible, the wood soft and brittle, but with a very tough 

 greyish-yellow bark. Leaves 3 or 4 inches long, often subrhomboid, on very short 

 petioles. Flowers sometimes solitary, usually 2 or 3, on short thickish pedicels, 

 which are united below in a common peduncle. Drupe about ^ of an inch In 

 diameter, reddish or orange-color when mature. 

 Hob. Shaded rirulets, on the slaty hills : not common. Fl. April. Fr. June. 



Obi. The soft pliable branches of this shrub are rendered so 

 tough and strong, by the bark, that they may be used as ligatures, 

 whence the common name, Leather-wood. 



ORDER LXXXII. SANTALA V CEAE. 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees; leaves alternate, entire, without stipules ; calyx-tube adherent 

 to the ovary ; border 4- or 5-cleft, valrate in the bud; stamens as many as the 

 calyx-lobes, inserted opposite them into the edge of a fleshy disk at their base ; 

 ovary 1-celled, with 2 to 4 ovules suspended from the apex of a free central placenta ; 

 ttyle, 1 ; fruit always 1-seeded, indehiscent; embryo at the apex of copious albumen. 

 This order is chiefly remarkable for containing the fragrant Sandal-wood, afforded 

 by species of Santalum. 



358. COMAtf'DRA, Nutt. 



[Or. Rome, hair, and Andres, for stamens; from the tufts attached to the anthers.J 

 Flowers perfect: calyx campanulate, 5-cleft, lined above the ovary 

 with a disk which has a 5-lobed free border, the lobes of the disk 

 alternating with the calyx-lobes. Stamens inserted between the 

 disk-lobes ; anthers attached to the calyx-lobes by a tuft of yellow 

 filaments ! Fruit dry and somewhat nut-like, free at apex, crowned 

 with the persistent calyx-lobes. Perennial herbs : flowers whitish, 

 in terminal corymbulose clusters. 



It C. miibcllata, Nutt. Smoothish and somewhat glaucous ; 



leaves ovate, or obovate-oblong, subsessile ; calyx-tube longer than 



the ovary, finally urceolate. 



Thesium umbellatum. L. $ FL Cextr. ed. 2. p. 163. 



UMBKLLATE COMANDRA. Bastard Toad-flax. 



Stem 9 to 15 inches high, often branched near the summit. Leaves an inch to an 

 i nch and half long, rather obtuse, sometimes acute, or mucronate. often narrowed 

 at base to a very short petiole. Flowers in small umbels, or fascicles of 3 to 5, with 

 involucral bracts at base, the whole forming a corymbose panicle. 

 Hub. Dry, sterile, rocky banks : frequent. Fl. June. Fr. Sept. 



ORDER LXXXIII. NYSSACEAE. 



Trees; leaves alternate, entire, without stipules; flowers polygamo-dioicous; calyx- 

 tube (of the fertile flowers) adherent to the ovary ; border 4- or 5-lobed, yalvate in. 

 the bud ; stamens usually as many (sometimes twice as many) as the calyx-lobe?, 

 and opposite them ; ovary with a single ovule, suspended from the top of the cell ; 

 fruit a berry-like drupe ; seed with but little albumen. 



359, WYS'SA, L. 



[The name of a Water Nymph ; applied to this genus.] 



Polygamo-dioicous : Calyx 5-parted. Stamens, in the STERILE FLOWER, 



