TROCHODENDRACEAE. 



47 



L 



EUPTELEA. 



( Family Trochodendraceae ) . 



Shrubs or small trees: decidu- 

 ous. Twigs moderate or rather 

 slender, terete, somewhat zig-zag: 

 pith rather small, firm, continu- 

 ous, greenish. Buds solitary, ses- 

 sile, ovoid, moderate, with half- 

 a-dozen blunt glossy scales, spar- 

 ingly hairy at base: end-bud lack- 

 ing. Leaf-scars alternate, 2- 

 ranked, moderate, broadly cres- 

 cent-shaped, little raised: bundle- 

 traces 7, relatively small: stipule- 

 scars lacking. 



Euptelea, like Gercidiphyllum, 

 and Eucommia is an anomalous 

 genus, evidently related to the 

 Magnoliaceae but not fitting into 

 that family without doing vio- 

 lence to its usual association of 

 characters. Unlike the genera 

 usually taken to represent the 



Magnoliaceae, this does not produce stipules, so that its twigs 

 lack the narrow scars that characterize the nodes of Magnolia, 

 Michelia and Liriodendron, and the horizontal series of bun- 

 dle-traces in its leaf-scar suggests rather a broken composite 

 group than either of the usual magnoliaceous types. The win- 

 ter-characters of E. polyandra are described and figured by 

 Shirasawa, p. 257, pi. 7. 



Though of rather recent introduction and rarely seen, 

 Euptelea is proving fairly hardy and is likely to find ex- 

 tended use where open round-topped trees are desired. 

 Glabrate: buds glossy chestnut. E. polyandra. 



