72 



LAUKACEAE. 



BENZOIN. Spice Bush. 

 (Family Lauraceae). 



Spicily aromatic shrubs: decidu- 

 ous. Twigs rounded, slender, 

 green or olive with pale lenticels: 

 pith relatively large, round, white, 

 continuous. Buds rather small, 

 superposed, the upper collaterally 

 producing green ovoid again 

 stalked flower-buds, the foliage 

 buds with about 3 scales: end-bud 

 lacking. Leaf-scars alternate, cres- 

 cent-shaped or half-round, slightly 

 raised, small: bundle-traces 3, 

 sometimes confluent: stipule-scars 

 lacking. 



The spice bush is a native shrub 

 deserving of much more exten- 

 sive cultivation than it has been 

 accorded. It opens the season 

 with its interesting little flowers 

 and closes it with its bright red 

 berry-like fruits. v No better ex- 

 amples of "dehiscence by uplifted valves" can be found than 

 are afforded by its anthers, which offer themselves to obser- 

 vation when few other hand-lens attractions, except opening 

 buds, are in evidence. The winter-characters of B. aestivale 

 (or Lindera Benzoin as it is still sometimes called) are fig- 

 ured by Brendel, pi. 3; and Schneider, f. 117. 

 Twigs and buds glabrous: flower-buds globose. B. aestivale. 

 Loosely hairy: flower-buds pointed. (1). B. melissaefolium. 

 Winter-characters of the related Lindera are given by 

 Shirasawa. L. glauca, 253, pi. 6; L. hypoleuca, 243, pi. 6; L. 

 obtusiloba, 255, pi. 6; L. praecox, 255, pi. 6; L. trilo'ba, 254, 

 pi. 6; and L. umbellata, 253, pi. 6. 



