4tfS HISTORY OF 



that of the poplar. The younger branches are 

 long and slender, angulated near the top, but 

 as they grow older the angles disappear. Their 

 bark is smooth, and of a reddish brown. The 

 leaves are alternate, lanceolate, pointed^jj&ery 

 entire, smooth on both sides, and remarkably 

 unequal, or oblique, at their base; the veins 

 alternate and not very conspicuous. The whole 

 surface of both sides of the leaves is marked 

 with numerous minute resinous spots, in which 

 the essential oil resides. The footstalks are 

 about half an inch in length, 4 round on the un- 

 der side, angular above, quite smooth. The 

 flowers grow in clusters, from six to eight in 

 each, sessile and conglomerated. These clus- 

 ters' arc supported on angular alternate foot- 

 stalks, which form a kind of panicle. Each 

 capsule is about the size of an hawthorn berry, 

 globular, but as it were cut off at the top, 

 rugged on the outside, hard and woody, and of 

 a dark brown colour. At the top is a large ori- 

 fice, which shews the internal part of the cap- 

 sule divided into four cells, and having a square 

 column in the center, from which the parti- -? 

 tions of the cell arise. These partitions extend 

 to the rim of the capsule, and terminate in four 

 small projections, which look like the teeth of 

 a calyx. The seeds are numerous, small, and 

 angular. 



The name of Peppermint Tree was given to 

 this plant by the celebrated Mr. White, on ac- 

 count of the very great resemblance between 

 the essential oil drawn from its leaves, and that 



