620 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



ing a 2 4;-celled nut. Cells 1-seeded. Albumen fleshy. The inferiorj 

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

 Don.) _ I 



Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous ; serrated or nearly entireJ 

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

 deciduous ; natives of North America. 



Genus I. 



HALE^SJyt Ellis. 



The Halesia, oj- Snowdrop Tree. Lin. Syst. 

 Dodecandria Monogynia. 



Identification. Ellis in I.in. 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., <Si-c. Corolla monopetalous, ventricosely campanulate, with s 

 4-lobed erect border. Stamens \2 X.o 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. Drupt 

 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, d^-c, as in the Order. Flowers in lateral fascicles, pedicellatej 

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

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

 v/hich, or from layers, they are readily propagated. 



^ 1. H. tetra'ptera L. The four-winged^/7H'/ef/ Halesia, or common ' 



Snowdroj) Tree. I 



Identification. Lin. Sp., G36. ; Ellis in Phil. Trans., vol. 51. p. 931. t. 22. f. A. ; Don's Mill., 4. p.d 

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



Eii^rnvings. Bot. Mag., t. 910. ; Bot. Cab., t. 1173. ; the plate in Arb. Brit, 1st edit., vol. vi. ; ant 

 our/i's. 1204, 1205. 



Sjiec. Char., Sfc. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acuminated, sharply serrated. Pe 

 tioles glandular. Fruit with 4 wings. 'Leaves acuminated, with the middlj 

 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 Hill.) 

 A low deciduous tree. South Carolina, along the 

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

 in 17.56. Flowers white ; April and May. Fruit 

 brown ; ripe in October, and remaining on great part 

 of the winter. 



1 



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 si.x years, is 12 or 18 

 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 seldom seen at above 

 half this height at that age. it ripens seeds freely in 

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

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



1204. H. teuaplera 



