934 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



found very plentifully in the provinces of Bantam and Buitenzorq in Batavia, 

 at an elevation of from 2000 ft. to 3000 ft. ; but in the East of Java it is 

 very rare, if not totally wanting. Noronha first described this tree in the 

 Act. Soc. Batav. ; but he had not the least suspicion that it belonged to the 

 genus Liquidambar Linn. Sprengel imagined that this tree was the same as 

 our Araucaria excelsa ; an error which was detected by the description and 

 figure of Blume, as given above. 



ORDER LXXIV. MYRICA V CE^E. 



ORD. CHAR. Flowers disposed in unisexual catkins, each scale having a 

 flower in its axil. Male flowers having the perianth composed of 2 scale- 

 formed pieces, four free stamens. Female flowers with the perianth en- 

 larging after florescence, each composed of 3 6 small scales. Ovarium 

 simple, free. Stigmas 2, filiform. Drupe globose, dryish when ripe, con- 

 taining a bony valveless nut. Albumen none or fleshy. (G. Don.) 



Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous or evergreen ; entire or 

 pinnatifidly toothed. Shrubs; natives of Europe, Asia, and North and 

 South America. The genera in British gardens are two, which are thus 

 contradistinguished : 



TlfYRi^CA. Flowers dioecious. Fruit resembling a berry. 

 COMPTO'N/^. Flowers monoecious. Fruit hard, shining. 



GKNUS I. 



A L. THE CANDLEBERRY MYRTLE. Lin Syst. Dioe'cia 

 Tetrandria. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., 518. ; Eng. Fl., 4. p. 238. ; N. Du Ham., 2. p. 189. 



Synonymes. Gale, Fr. ; Wachsstrauch, Ger. ; Mirica, Ital. 



Derivation. From myro, to flow ; the plants being found on the banks of rivers. 



Gen. Char., $c. Male flowers in cylindrical sessile catkins. Each flowfr 

 consists of 4, rarely more, stamens ; these are inserted at the base of a 

 bractea. Bracteas extending beyond the stamens, loosely imbricated. 

 Female flowers in ovate sessile catkins, with closely imbricate bracteas ; 

 one bractea attends 2 flowers. Each flower consists of a calyx of 24 

 very minute scales ; an ovary, to which the scales adhere ; a short style ; 

 and two long thread-shaped stigmas. Carpel involucrated by the adherent, 

 more or less fleshy, enlarged calyx, and so more or less resembling a berry. 

 (G. Don.) 



Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, deciduous or evergreen ; more or less 

 serrated ; besprinkled with resinous dots, as are the scales of the buds and 

 the surface of the fruit, which yield, when rubbed, an aromatic odour. 

 Flowers in axillary catkins, greenish white, expanding early in the year. 

 Shrubs, natives of Europe and North America. They are of low growth, 

 and generally require a moist peaty soil, in which they are propagated by 

 layers, suckers, or by division of the plant. The American species is 

 sometimes propagated by seeds, which should be sown in autumn, as soon 

 after they are received from America as possible ; for, if kept out of the 

 ground till spring, they will not come up till the spring following. 



j* 1. M. GA^LE L. The Sweet Gale Candleberry Myrtle, Sweet Willow, or 



Dutch Myrtle. 

 Identification. Lin. Sp. PL, 1453. ; Eng. Flor., 4. p. 239. ; Fl. Hibern,, p. 257. 



