310 PLANTAGIXACE.E. (PLANTAIN FAMILT.) 



2. HALESIA, Ellis. SNownnor or Silvkr-bell-Tree. 



Calyx inversely conical, 4-toothcd ; the tube 4-ribl)ed, coherent with the 2-4- 

 cellccl ovary. Petals 4, united at the base, or ol'tener to the middle, into an open 

 bell-shaped corolla, convolute or imbricated in the bud. Stamens 8-16: tila- 

 iijcnts united into a riny at the base, and usually a little coherent with the base 

 of the corolla: anthers linear-oblonj,'. Ovules 4 in each cell. Fruit larye and 

 dry, 2-4-winged, within bony and 1-4-celled. Seeds single, cylindrical. — 

 Shrubs or small trees, with large and veiny pointed deciduous leaves, and showy 

 white Howers, drooping on slender pedicels, in clusters or short racemes, from 

 axillary buds of the preceding year. Pubescence partly stellate. (Named for 

 Step/im Hales, author of Vegetable Statics, &c.) 



1. H. tetl'^ptera, L. Leaves oblong-ovate ; fruit 4-wingcd. — Banks of 

 streams, upper jiart of Virginia, also on the Ohio Kiver at Evansville (S/iort), 

 and southward. Fruit I^' long. 



3. SYMPLOCOS, Jacq. (HOPEA, L.) Sweet-Leaf. 



Calyx 5-clcft, the tube coherent Avith the lower part of the 3-cclled ovary. 

 Petals 5, imbricated in the bud, lightly ui.Jted at the base. Stamens very nu- 

 merous, in 5 clusters, one cohering with the base of each petal : filaments slen- 

 der : anthers very short. Fruit drupe-like or dry, mostly 1-cellcd and 1 -seeded. 



— Shrubs or small trees , the leaves commonly turning yellowish in drying, 

 and furnishing a yellow dye. Flowers in axillary clusters or racemes, yellow. 

 (Name avfnrXoKos, connected, from the union of the stamens.) 



1. S. tinctdria, L'Hcr. (Horse-Scgar, &c.) Leaves elongated-oblong, 

 acute, obscurely tootheil, thickish, almost persistent, minutely pubescent and 

 pale beneath (.3' -5' long) ; flowers 6- 14, in close and bracted clusters, odorous. 



— Rich ground, Virginia and southward. April. — Leaves sweet, greedily 

 eaten by cattle. 



Order fi2. PLANTAGINACE^. (Plantain Family.) 



CJiiefli/ stemlex.t herb.'i, irith rrr/ulnr A-mrrnu;^ spiked ftotcers, the stamens 

 inserted on the tube of the dry and memhranaceous veinless monopetalous 

 corolla, alternate with its tnhrs ; — chiefly represented by the genus 



1. PLANTAGO, L. Plantain. Ribgra.ss. 



Calyx of 4 imbricated persistent sepals, mostly with dry membranaceous mar- 

 gins. Corolla salver-form, withering on the pod, the border 4-parted. Stamens 

 4, or rarely 2. in all or some flowers with long and weak exserted filaments, and 

 fiVracions 2-celled anthers. Ovary 2- (or in No. .5 falsely 3-4-) celled, with 1 - 

 several ovules in each cell. Stvlc and long hairy stigma single, filiform. Pod 

 2-celled, 2 -several-seeded, opening all round by a transverse line, so that tho 

 top fills offlike a lid, and the loose partition (whi(4i boars the peltate seeds) falls 

 away. Embryo strnight, in fleshy albumen. — Leaves ribbeil. Flowers whitish, 

 small, in a bracted spike or head, raised on a naked scape. (The Latin name.) 



