MYRICACE^E. 203 



Leauets V-9. Bark close but not shaggy, and not scaling off 

 on tne old trunks. Husk as in the last. Catkins, shoots, 

 and lower surface of the leaves tomentose when young. Nut 

 globular. 



3. C. ama'ra, Nutt. (SWAMP HICKORY or BITTERNUT.) 

 Leaflets 1-11. Husk of the fruit splitting half way down. 

 Nut spherical, short-pointed. Bark smooth, not scaling off. 

 Moist ground. 



4. C. porei'na, Nutt. (PIG-NUT. BROOM-HICKORY.) Leaf- 

 lets 5-7. Shoots, etc., glabrous. Husk as in the last. Nut 

 oblong or oval. Niagara district, and south-westward. 



LXXXVII. MYRICA'CEjE. (SWEET-GALE F.) 



Shrubs with monrecious or dioecious flowers, both sterile 

 and fertile ones collected in short catkins or heads. Leaves 

 with resinous dots, usually fragrant. Fruit a 1-seeded dry 

 drupe or little nut, usually coated wrth little waxy grains. 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



1. Myrl'ca. Flowers chiefly dioecious, catkins lateral, each bract with 



a pair of bractlets underneath. Stamens in the sterile flowers 

 2-8. Ovary solitary in the fertile flowers, 1-celled, tipped with 2 

 thread-like stigmas, and surrounded by 2-4 small scales at the 

 base. In our species the 2 scales form wings at the base of the 

 nut. A shrub, 3-5 feet high. 



2. Compto'iiia. A low shrub, a foot or more in height, with fern-like 



very sweet-scented leaves. Flowers monoecious. Sterile catkins 

 cylindrical. Fertile ones spherical, the ovary surrounded by 8 

 awl-shaped persistent scales, so that the catkin resembles a bur. 



1. DIYRI'CA, L. BAYBERRY. WAX-MYRTLE. 



1. M. Ga'le, L. (SWEET GALE.) Leaves wedge-lanceolate, 

 serrate towards the apex, pale. The small nuts in crowded 

 heads, and winged by the 2 scales. Bogs. 



2. M. eerif era, L. (BAYBERRY. WAX- MYRTLE.) Leaves 

 oblong-lanceolate, entire, or wavy-toothed towards the 

 apex, shining and sprinkled with resinous dots on both 

 sides, fragrant. Sterile catkins scattered. Nuts naked, 



