I 



THE KENTUCKY FLORA LA WSON. 305 



Florida," is really essentially southern in its range, occurring 

 sparingly on the banks of the Humber near Toronto, (only one 

 bush six or seven feet high was seen in I860,) and a few other 

 favoured spots in the extreme southern parts of the Province of 

 Ontario. 



There is also the spice-bush, Lindera Benzoin, of Meissner 

 in DeCandolle's Prodromus, and of Hortus Kewensis, iii, p. 89,, 

 located in the latter as " Am. Bor." This is not Adamson's 

 genus Lindera (1763), now referred to Myrrhis, Tourn., (Umbel- 

 liferse), but that established later by Thunberg, Diss. Nov. Gen., 

 iii, p. 44, (1783). This is the Laurus Benzoin of Linngeus, Sp. 

 Plantar-urn, p. 370, amplified by Michaux in the Fl. Bor. Am. into 

 L. pseudo-Benzoin, for the obvious purpose of preventing con- 

 fusion of this lauraceous plant with a conspicuous one belonging 

 to the Styracaceae, viz., the Siamese Styrax Benzoin of Dryander 

 (Phil. Trans., Ixxvii, 308, t. 12,) which yields gum benzoin, and 

 was called Benzoin officinale by Hayne. (Buchanan-Hamilton 

 used the name Laurus Benzoin, according to Wallich's Cata- 

 logue of Indian plants, for Cinnamomum obtusijolium). 



Our American plant, which forms a bush from eight to ten 

 feet high, was named Benzoin odoriferum by Nees von Esenbeck 

 (Laurin.. 497). The berries yield an aromatic oil; the wood and 

 bark are also highly aromatic, and, as this plant is said to have 

 been used in the United States during the first American war, 

 as a substitute for allspice, it may be responsible for the 

 American tradition of wooden nutmegs. It is known by the 

 several names of spice-bush, spice-wood, spice-berry, fever-wood, 

 &c. Dr. Lindley, in Flora Medica, indicates its range thus : 

 Low moist places, damp shady woods, from Canada to Florida. 



Rhus copallina, Sumach. 



Azalea lutea. 



Vitis aestivalis. The Summer Grape. The bunches bore 

 bunches of ripe fruit, from the seeds of which plants are being 

 raised for comparison with more northern forms. 



Ilex opaca. The American Holly, a species that closely 

 resembles in habit, its bright shining evergreen foliage, ,the 



