272 APETALOUS EXOGENS 



noitras jamais comme nous le bonheur de nepenser a rien et de ne 

 rien faire : Apres le sommeil, c'est ce qu'il y a de plus delicieux 1" 



B. Anthers 1-cellcd; staminate flowers imbricated in simple, cylindric aments. 



375. CO'RYILUS, Tournef. 

 [Gr. Korys, & helmet, or cap ; in reference to the Involucre.] 



STAM. FL. calyx of 2 collateral scales beneath the bract, and all three 

 united at base. Stamens 8, subsessile; anthers bristly at apex. 

 PISTILLATE FL. in terminal bracteate clusters. Ovary 2-celled, with 

 1 ovule in each cell ; stigmas 2, filiform. Nut bony, roundish-ovoid, 

 subcompressed at apex, solitary or separately inclosed in the en- 

 larged leathery foliaceous bilabiate lacerate-dentate involucre. 

 Shrubs: the staminate aments preceding the leaves, yellowish-green 

 when in flower. 



1. C. AVELLANA, L. Leaves orbicular-cordate, acuminate; stipules 

 ovate-oblong, obtuse ; involucre about the length of the fruit. 

 AVKLLAN CORYLUS. Filbert. Hazel-nut. 



Stem 6 to 10 feet high, branching from the base. Leaves 3 to 4 or 5 inches long, 

 often obovate-cordate, doubly serrate ; petioles*% to % of an inch in length. Pistil- 

 late flowers few, in squamose clusters, the scales (or bracts) enlarging, uniting 

 and forming the involucres. Stigmas purple. Nuts rather large. 

 Hob. Yards, &c. Nat, of Asia Minor. FL March. Fr. Sept. 



Obs. The Filbert, or Hazel-nut, of the old world, is now becoming 

 known among us, and not unfrequently cultivated. "The bushes 

 were originally imported into Italy from Pontus, and [the fruit] 

 known among the Romans by the appellation of Nux pontica, 

 which, in the progress of time, was changed into that of Nux Avel- 

 lana ; from the place \_Avella, near Naples] where they had been 

 most successfully propagated." The young forked twigs of this 

 shrub constitute the celebrated divining-rod (Virgula divinitoria), 

 with which certain impostors beyond the Atlantic pretend to dis- 

 cover the localities of precious metals, and subterranean fountains. 

 The imposture, and the credulity on which it operated, have both 

 reached our shores; but the Filbert not being indigenous here, a 

 capital substitute, or phytognostic equivalent, was discovered in the 

 Witch Hazel (Hamamelis) \ The twigs of Peach trees, also, have been 

 found to answer the purpose nearly as well as Witch Hazel ; and 

 thus the occult sciences df Ore-finding, and Water-smelling, have 

 been enabled, in some degree even in this "progressive" age to 

 keep pace with the sublime mysteries of Clairvoyance, and Spiritual 

 Rappings; as well as with the lucrative manufacture of Panaceas, 

 and Indian Specifics! It is, indeed, both humiliating and discourag- 

 ing, to contemplate the facility with which a large portion of man- 

 kind can be made the dupes of such miserable trumpery. 



2. C. Americana, Marshall. Leaves obovate-cordate, acumin- 

 ate; stipules ovate; involucre about twice as long as the fruit, 

 Yentricose at base, the border dilated and compressed. 

 AMERICAN CORYLUS. Wild Hazel-nut. 



Stem 4 to 6 feet high, slender, branching, the young branches virgate, pubes- 

 cent and glandular-hispid. Leaves 3 to 6 inches long, dentate-serrate; petioles % 



