DECANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 265 



(The capsule of Clethra alnifoHa possesses a similar struc- 

 ture, excepting- that the capsules are but 3 in place of 5, 

 and do not separate spontaneously in consequence of be- 

 ing inseparably united at the base.) Indigenous also to 

 Siberia. Almost the only species in upper Louisiana. 5. 

 aiigustifoUa. Fh. Nearly allied to Ihe preceding. 6. nitida. 

 Fasciqles of flowers axillary, subracemose. In swamps 

 from North Carolina to Florida. 7. axillaris. Obs. Leaves 

 oblong-oval, sublanceolate, acuminate, upper part carti- 

 laginously serrulate, serratures mucronate, under side 

 scattered with minute glandular hairs; younger branches 

 also pulverulently pubescent; racemes axillary, spiked, 

 sessile, imbricately bracteate; corolla cylindric-ovate, an« 

 thers awnless. — Stigma capitate. Capsule globular, de- 

 pressed: septum indivisible, as in the preceding. Recep- 

 tacular bodies 5, pendulous from the summit of the axis> 

 each conspicuously pedicellate. Seeds brownish, angu- 

 lar, and truncate at the lower extremity. Ji. spinulosa of 

 Pursh is certainly the same species with the present, in 

 which oval leaves are not uncommon. Hab. From Vir- 

 ginia to Florida, and westward throughout the mountains 

 of North Carolina into East Tennessee. 8. acuminata. 9. 

 fioribimda. Discovered and so named by the late Mr. 

 John Lyon. A very elegant species. 



Species with deciduous leaves. 



10. mariana. An extremely fine, common, and hardy 

 species, possessing somewhat the habit o^ A. nitida whtw 

 flowering again in the autumn; its vernal flowering 

 branches are, however, nearly naked. 11. speciosa. From 

 Virginia to Florida. I have never seen the \ sir leiy pidve- 

 ridenta except in a singular locality of a few miles in 

 North Carolina, not very far from Wilmington; it is un- 

 doubtedly a distinct and natural variety, but scarcely a 

 species. 12. racemosa. Anthers 4-awned; racemes secund, 

 calix bibracteate at the base; style cylindric, stigma indis- 

 tinct. Leaves serrulate, somewhat pubescent on the un- 

 der side. 13. arborea. (Called Sour-wood.) Racemes, pa- 

 niculate; flowers secund, pubescent. Style pentangular, 

 stigma indistinct. Capsule pubescent ovate; septum indi- 

 visible. Seeds subulate, longitudinally imbricated. 



Principally a North American genus; at the same time 

 there are 3 species in the island of Jamaica, 1 in the island 

 of St. Thomas, 4 or 5 in other parts of tropical America, 

 and 1 at the Straights of Magellan; Japan affords a sin- 

 gle species, the islands of the Pacific as fa,r as New Zealand 

 4 or 5, and Europe with Siberia 6. 



A a 



