936 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



male catkins are axillary and sessile ; but have not the shining scales of the 



Afyrica Gale. The fruits are globose drupes, about the bigness of a grain of 



black pepper ; covered with an unctuous substance as white as snow, which 



gives them the appearance of a kind of sugar plum. Like the Jlfyrica Gale 



of Europe, it delights in wet places about swamps or rivers. 



In France and Germany, it has been cultivated with a view 



to its producing wax ; and it is said to thrive in sandy peat, 



rather moist, and to produce an abundant crop of berries 



every year. In Prussia, it has been cultivated in a garden 



on the banks of the Spree, near Berlin, in lat. 52 53' ; which 



is nearly 1^ degree farther north than London, but where the 



mean annual temperature is 2 9' higher than London ; and 



wax and candles have been made from the fruit. 



M. spathulala Mirb. Mem. Mus. 14. p. 474. t. 28. f. 1.; 

 and our ^g. 1745. Leaves spathulate, blunt, quite entire, 

 glabrous. Male catkins sessile, axillary, solitary, shorter than 

 the petioles. A tree, with smooth, cylindrical branches. 

 Leaves 1 in. to 2i in. long, and |in. to 1 in. broad. Found in 

 Madagascar by M. Perodet. Not yet introduced. 



1745. 

 XS. spathul^a. 



Genus II. 



COMPTO'N/^ Solan. The Comptonia. Lin. Syst. MonceVia Triandria. 



Identification. Ait. Hort. Kew., 2 ed., 5. p. 254. ; Gartn. Fruct., 1. p. .58. ; N. Du Ham., 2. p. 45. 



Synonymes. Liquidambar i!. Sp. ; Myrlca. Li7i. Hori. Cliffl i56. ; G&te Vetiv. Mus. 773. ; Comp- 

 tone, Fr. ; Coraptonie, Ger. 



Derivation. Named by Dr. Solander in honour of Henry Cnmpton, Bishop of London, the in- 

 troducer and cultivator of many curious exotic plants, and one of the greatest patrons of botany 

 and gardening of his time. 



Gen. Char. Male catkins lateral, cylindrical, of several flowers. Bradeas 

 imbricated. Flower of 3 twin stamens, seated towards the base of a brac- 

 tea ; sessile. Anthers 2-lobed, opening at the side. Female caikms, lateral, 

 ovate, of several flowers. Bracteas imbricated. Flower consisting of a 

 calyx and pistil. Calyx free, flat, 6-parted. Segments slender, unequal in 

 length ; the longest as long again as the bractea. Style short. Stigmas 2. 

 Fruit 1-celled, ovate, hard, shining, attended by the calyx. Seed 1, oval. 

 (G. Don.) ^ 



Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous ; 

 lanceolate, pinnatifidly toothed, downy, sprinkled 

 with golden, resinous, transparent particles. Flowers 

 whitish. Shrubs dwarfish; natives of North Ame- 

 rica ; fragrant, from the resinous particles which cover 

 the whole plant. Culture and soil as in ilfyrica. 



Ji L C. ..^splenifo'lia Solan. The Asplenium-leaved 

 Comptonia. 



Identification. Ait. Hort. Kew., .'5. p. 2534. : Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 



2. p. 635. 

 Synonymes. Liquidambar aspleniftilium Lin. Sp. 1418. ; L. peregri- 



nura lin. Syst. 8(10. ; jl/yrua Lin. Hort. Cfiff. 450. ; Gale mariSna 



Fet. Mus. 773. ; .VJ^rtus brabanticse affinis Pluk. Phyt. t. 100. f. 6, 



7. ; the sweet Fern Bush, Amer. 

 Engravings. N. Du Ham., t. 11.; Dend. Brit., t. 166.; and our 



fig- 1746. 



Sjiec. Char., c^c. Leaves long, linear, alternate, cre- 

 nately pinnatifid. (Willd.) A deciduous shrub. New 

 England to Virginia, in sandy, stony, or slaty woods. ,745. c. .spicoifoua. 



I 



