290 LAUREL FAMILY. 



R. Salicif61ius, WHITE D. Salt marshes : l-3 high ; pedicels much 

 shorter than the fruiting calyx and in muclvcrowded whorls, forming a spike ; 

 valves more triangular than in the foregoing and smaller, their grain very 

 large ; root white. 



R. verticil! atllS, SWAMP D. Common N. : 3 -5 high; whorls loose; 

 fruit-bearing pedicels slender and club-shaped, abruptly reflexed ; valves some- 

 what rhombic and with narrow blunt apex, each bearing a very large grain ; 

 leaves thickish, the lowest often heart-shaped at base. 



# # Weeds nat. from Europe in cult, or waste ground : stem erect, 2 4 high : 

 lower leaves or some of them heart-shaped at base, all more or less wdvtj : 

 root commonly ytUow and spindle-shaped, 1^ 



R. crispus, CURLED D. Leaves green, lanceolate, very wavy-curled, the 

 lower rather truncate than heart-shaped at base ; whorls crowded in long 

 racemes ; valves rounded, heart-shaped, nearly entire ; mostly grain-bearing. 



R. sanguineus, BLOODY-VEINED or RED D. Leaves less curled and 

 red-veined, lanceolate or oblong ; whorls distant ; pedicels very short ; valves 

 narrowly oblong, one or more grain-bearing. 



R. Obtusif61ius, BITTER I). Leaves little wavy, the upper lance-oblong 

 and acute, lower oblong-heart-shaped and obtuse ; whorls loose and distant ; 

 valves ovate, partly halberd -shaped, beset with some long sharp teeth near the 

 base, usually only one grain-bearing. 



* * * Sandy sea-shore and river-banks N. : 5' -12' high, spreading. (T) 



R. maritimus. Minutely pubescent ; leaves lance-linear, wavy-margined, 

 the lower auricled or heart-shaped at base ; whorls much crowded into Icaf'v 

 spikes ; valves rhombic-oblong with a tapering point, turning orange-colored, a 

 large grain on the back and 2 or 3 long stout bristles on each margin. 



2. SORRELS. Herbage add: some leaves halberd-shaped, others ivith entire 

 narrowed base : flowers dtoxious, small, in a terminal naked panicle : valvts 

 naked : ji. spring and summer. If. 



R. AcetOS^lla, COMMON or SHEEP SORREL. Low weed in all sterile 

 fields ; leaves lance-oblong or halberd-shaped, the lobes or auricles narrow ; pedi- 

 cels jointed with the flower ; ovate valves hardly enlarging in fruit. 



R. Engelmanni, only S. & W., differs in pedicels jointed near the mid- 

 dle, and thin rounded heart-shaped valves becoming many times larger than 

 the akene. 



96. LAURACE^E, LAUREL FAMILY. 



Spicy-aromatic trees or shrubs, the alternate simple leaves (with 

 entire margins but sometimes lobed) more or less marked with 

 minute pellucid dots ; the regular flowers with a calyx of 4 or 6 

 sepals imbricated in two ranks in the bud, and free from the 

 ovary ; the latter is terminated by a simple style and stigma, is 

 1 -celled with a hanging ovule, and in fruit becomes a berry or 

 drupe. The stamens (in ours 9) furnish a special character, their 

 anthers opening by uplifted valves ! To this family belong the 

 classical Laurel or Bay, the Cinnamon, the Camphor-tree, &c. 



* Flowers perfect, in axillary panicles. 



1. PER SEA. Calyx 6-parted, persistent at the base of the berry. Stamens 9 



with anthers, the 3 outer of which are turned outwards, the 6 others inward ; 

 also 3 glands or sterile filaments forming an innermost row. The two proper 

 cells of the anther with a lower and an upper chamber, making 4 compart- 

 ments, each opening by a valve in the manner of u trap-door. 

 * * Flowers wholly or nearly dioecious, greenisli-ydlow, leaves deciduous. 



2. SASSAFRAS. Flower?; in an open corymbed and peduncled cluster, with 



spivadincr 6-parted calyx: sterile ones with ft stamens in 3 rows, tlio filaments 

 of tin; three inner with' a pair of yellow stalked gla.nds on their base. Anther* 

 with 4 chambers as in the preceding. Fertile flowers with 6 rudiments of 

 stamens and an ovoid ovary, becoming a drupe. 



