620 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



ing a 2 1-celled nut. Cells 1-seeded. Albumen fleshy. The inferior 

 ovarium is sufficient to distinguish this from all nearly allied orders. (G. 

 Don.) 



Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous ; serrated or nearly entire. 

 Flowers in fascicles, pedicellate, drooping, white. Trees or large shrubs, 

 deciduous ; natives of North America. 



GENUS I. 



HALE V S/^ Ellis. THE HALESIA, or SNOWDROP TREE. Lin. Syst. 

 Dodecandria Monogynia. 



Identification. Ellis in Lin. Gen., No. 596. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 6. 

 Synonyme. Halesie, Fr. and Ger. 



Derivation. Named by Ellis in honour of the learned and venerable Stephen Hales, D.D. F.R.S., 

 author of Vegetable Statistics. 



Gen. Char., fyc. Corolla monopetalous, ventricosely campanulate, with a 

 4-lobed erect border. Stamens 12 to 16; filaments combined into a tube 

 at the base, and adnate to the corolla. Anthers oblong, erect, 2-celled, de- 

 hiscing lengthwise. Ovarium inferior. Style 1. Stigma simple. Drupe 

 dry, corticate, oblong, with 2 4 winged angles, terminated by the perma- 

 nent style ; containing a 2 4-celled putamen, which is acute at both ends. 

 Cells 1-seeded. Seeds attached to the bottom of the cells. 



Leaves, fyc., as in the Order. Flowers in lateral fascicles, pedicellate, 

 drooping, white. Trees, deciduous ; natives of North America ; very hardy 

 in England ; thriving best in peat soil kept moist, and ripening seeds, from 

 which, or from layers, they are readily propagated. 



3t 1. H. TETRA'PTERA L. The four-w\nged-fniited Halesia, or common 

 Snowdrop Tree. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 636. ; Ellis in Phil. Trans., vol. 51. p.931. t. 22. f. A. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 6. 

 Synonymcs. The Snowdrop Tree, Silver Bell Tree, Amer. 



Engravings. Bot. Mag., t. 910. ; Bot. Cab., t. 1173. ; the plate in Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. vi. ; and 

 our figs. 1204, 1205. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminated, sharply serrated. Pe- 

 tioles glandular. Fruit with 4 wings. Leaves acuminated, with the middle 

 depressed. Flowers pure white, 9 10 in a fascicle, 

 drooping, resembling those of the snowdrop. The 

 wood is hard and veined ; the bark is of a darkish 

 colour, with many irregular fissures. {Don's Mill.) 

 A low deciduous tree. South Carolina, along the 

 banks of rivers. Height 15ft. to 30ft. Introduced 

 in 1756. Flowers white ; April and May. Fruit 

 brown ; ripe in October, and remaining on great part 

 of the winter. 



Its flowers, which resemble those of the snowdrop, 

 are produced in great ^abundance. The tree is one of 

 the hardiest, and, at the same time, one of the most 

 ornamental of the American deciduous trees. The rate 

 of growth, for the first five or six years, is 12 or J 8 

 inches, or more, a year ; and in ten years it will attain 

 the height of 12 or 15 feet, if properly treated ; but, as 

 it is generally kept too dry, it is seld'om seen at above 

 half this height at that age. It ripens seeds freely in 1204 H tetr4 tera 

 this country ; from which, or from imported seeds, it 

 is readily increased. The seeds often remain above a year in the ground. 



