WHITE-ALDER FAMILY. 



549 



VOL. II.] 



2. Clethra acuminata Michx. 



Mountain Sweet Pepperbush. 



(Fig. 2725.) 



Clethra acuminata Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i: 260. 

 1803. 



A tall shrub or small tree, similar to the pre- 

 ceding species. Leaves oval, oblong, or ovate, 

 acuminate at the apex, narrowed or rounded at 

 the base, green above, pale and sometimes pu- 

 bescent beneath, closely serrulate with very 

 sharp-pointed teeth, 2'-7 x long, sometimes 3^' 

 wide; petioles 4 // -i2 // long; racemes spreading 

 or recurved, solitary, or 2-3 together, 2 / -S / 

 long, the rachis, pedicels and calyx densely 

 pubescent or canescent; bracts longer than the 

 flowers, caducous; filaments and bases of the 

 petals hirsute. 



In mountain woods, Virginia and West Virginia 

 to Georgia. Ascends to 4500 ft. in North Caro- 

 lina. July-Aug. 



Family 2. PYROLACEAE Agardh, Cl. PI. 18. 1825. 



WlNTERGREEN FAMILY. 



Low mostly evergreen perennials, with branched rootstocks. Leaves petioled. 

 Flowers perfect, nearly regular, racemose, solitary or corymbose, white or pink. 

 Calyx 4~5-lobed. Corolla very deeply 4~5-parted, or of 5 petals. Stamens twice 

 as many as the divisions of the corolla, the anthers introrse in the bud, inverted 

 at anthesis, opening by pores or short slits; pollen-grains in 4*5. Ovary super- 

 ior, 4-5-celled; style short or slender, often declined; stigma 5-lobed, or 

 5-crenate; ovules very numerous, anatropous. Fruit a loculicidally dehiscent 

 capsule. Seeds very numerous, minute, the loose cellular coat -much larger 

 than the almost undifferentiated embryo. 



Three genera and about 20 species, natives of the northern hemisphere. 



Flowers racemose ; leaves basal. I. Pyrola. 



Flowers solitary or corymbose; leaves opposite or whorled. 

 . Stem leafy at base ; flower solitary; style long. 2. Moneses. 



Stem horizontal; branches erect, leafy; style very short. 3. Chimaphila. 



i. PYROLA L. Sp. PI. 396. 1753. 



Low glabrous herbs, acaulescent or nearly so, stoloniferous, perennial. Leaves basal, 

 persistent (one northwestern species leafless). Flowers nodding, or in one species ascend- 

 ing, white, yellowish, pink, or purple, racemose, on erect bracted scapes. Calyx 5-parted, 

 persistent. Petals 5, concave, sessile, deciduous. Stamens 10, declined, or straight and 

 connivent; filaments subulate, glabrous; anthers erect in the bud, emarginate or 2-beaked 

 at the base, mostly reversed at flowering, each sac opening by a basal but apparently apical 

 pore. Ovary 5-celled; style straight or declined, filiform, or thickened at the summit; stigma 

 5-lobed. Disk usually obsolete, rarely present and lo-lobed. Capsule subglobose, 5-lobed, 

 5-celled, loculicidally 5-valved from the base, the valves cobwebby on the margins when open- 

 ing, the apex and base intruded. [Latin, diminutive of Pyrits, pear, from the similar leaves.] 

 About 15 species, natives of the northern hemisphere. Besides the following, 3 others occur 

 in western North America. 



Style and stamens declined (slightly so in no. 6). 

 Petals very obtuse ; leaves rounded at the apex. 



Leaves rounded, truncate or narrowed at the base. 



Flowers white or greenish white; plants of dry woods. 

 Calyx-lobes oblong or lanceolate; leaves shining. 

 Calyx-lobes ovate or triangular, short; leaves dull. 



Blades orbicular, coriaceous, mostly shorter than petioles. 

 Blades oval, membranous, longer than their petioles. 

 Flowers pink or purple ; bog plant. 

 Leaves reniform, cordate; flowers pink. 

 Petals and leaves acute, the latter small. 

 Style straight; stamens connivent. 



Style short; disk none; raceme regular. 7. P. minor. 



Style elongated; disk lo-lobed; flowers in a i-sided raceme. 8. P. secunda. 



1. P. rotundifolia. 



2. P. chlorantha. 



3. P. elliptica. 



4. P. uliginosa. 



5. P. asarifolia. 



6. P. oxypetala. 



