MYRICACE.E. ( SWEET-GALE FAMILY.) 469 



leaflets 7-9, lance-obovate or the lower oblong-lanceolate, pointed ; fruit glob- 

 ular or ovoid, with a very thick and hard husk ; nut globular, not compressed, 

 4-ridged toward the slightly pointed summit, brownish, very thick-shelled, V in 

 diameter or smaller. N. Eng. to N. shore of L. Erie, E. Neb., and south to 

 the Gulf. Tree 70-100 high, usually on rich upland hillsides. 



5. C. microcarpa, Nutt. With rough close bark, small ovate buds, and 

 the glabrous foliage, etc., of n. 6 ; fruit small, subglobose, with rather thin 

 husk ; nut thin-shelled, not angled. N. Y. to Del., west to Mich, and 111. 



* # Bud-scales numerous or few ; husk of the fruit thin and rather friable at ma- 



turity, 4-valved only to the middle or tardily to near the base ; seed more or 

 less bitter; bark of old trunk not exfoliating. 



6. C. porcina, Nutt. (PIG-NUT or BROOM H.) Bud-scales nearly as in 

 n. 4, but smaller, caducous ; shoots, catkins, and leaves glabrous or nearly so ; 

 leaflets 5-7, oblong- or obovate-lanceolate and taper-pointed, serrate; fruit 

 pear-shaped, oblong, or oval ; nut oblong or oval (1-J--2' long), with a thick bony 

 shell ; the oily seed at first sweet in taste, then bitterish. S. Maine to Fla., 

 west to Minn., E. Neb., and Tex. Tree 70-90 high (rarely 120), on dry 

 hills and uplands. 



7. C. amara, Nutt. (BITTER-NUT or SWAMP H.) Scales of the small 

 yellowish buds about 6, valvate in pairs, caducous in leafing; catkins and 

 young herbage more or less pubescent, soon becoming almost glabrous ; leaflets 

 1 -11, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate; fruit globular, narrowly 6-ridged ; nut 

 globular, short-pointed, white (barely 1' long), thin-walled ; seed at first sweet- 

 tasted, soon extremely bitter. Moist soil, N. Eng. to Fla., west to Minn., E. 

 Neb., and Tex. Tree 50-75 high; husk and nut-shell thinner and less hard 

 than in other species. 



ORDER 102. MYKICXCE^J. (SWEET-GALE FAMILY.) 



Monoecious or dioecious shrubs, with both kinds of flowers in short scaly 

 catkins, and resinous-dotted often fragrant leaves, differing from the 

 Birches chiefly in the 1-celled ovary with a single erect orthotropous 

 ovule, and the drupe-like nut. Involucre and perianth none. 



1. MY BIG A, L. BAYBERRY. WAX-MYRTLE. 



The only genus. Flowers solitary under a scale-like bract and with a pair 

 of bractlets, the sterile in oblong or cylindrical, the fertile in ovoid or globular 

 catkins, from axillary scaly buds ; stamens 2 - 8 ; filaments somewhat united 

 below ; anthers 2-celled. Ovary with 2-8 scales at its base, and 2 thread-like 

 stigmas. Fruit a small globular or oblong nut, or dry drupe, coated with 

 resinous grains or wax. (Mvplur), the ancient name of the Tamarisk or some 

 other shrub; perhaps from /ivpffw, to perfume.) 



* Mostly dioecious ; fertile catkins ovoid; ovary with 2-4 scales at base; nut 



globular; leaves entire or somewhat serrate. 



1. M. Gale, L. (SWEET GALE.) Shrub 3 -5 high; leaves wedge-lan- 

 ceolate, serrate toward the apex, pale, later than the flowers; sterile catkins 

 closely clustered; nuts in imbricated heads, 2-winged by the two thick ovate 



