268 



CLETHRACEAE. 



CLETHRA. Pepper Bush. 

 (Family Clethraceaej. 



Shrubs or small trees, mostly 

 scurfy- or tussocky-tomentulose 

 when young: commonly decidu- 

 ous. Twigs rounded or obscurely 

 3-sided: pith relatively large, 

 white, or browning when cut, con- 

 tinuous, reticulated with firmer 

 strands. Buds solitary, sessile or 

 frequently developing in the first 

 season, the lateral small and ob- 

 scure, the terminal larger, ovoid, 

 rosy, very sharp, with three cadu- 

 cous tomentulose scales. Leaf- 

 scars alternate, clustered toward 

 the tip, triangular, little raised: 

 bundle-trace 1, protruding: sti- 

 pule-scars lacking. 



Winter-character references: 

 Clethra alnifolia. Schneider, f. 

 95. C. barbinervis. Shirasawa, 

 283, pi. 13. 

 Twigs slender: end-bud 3X5 mm. 



(White alder). (1). C. alnifolia. 



Twigs stouter: end-bud large (5X10 mm.). (2). C. barbinervis. 

 Clethra is unusual among its relatives in possessing a 

 type of pubescence which appears much like that in which 

 the hairs are spoken of as stellate, or several-armed from a 

 common stalk: here the appearance results from the occur- 

 rence of unbranched hairs in closely set clusters or tufts. 



