1316 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART II* 



ing 1 seed which is albuminous, and has an embryo that has large leafy coty- 

 ledons and a superior radicle. Male flower. Calyx 5-parted, spreading. 

 Stamens 5, 8, 10, and 12; surrounding a shield-shaped gland ( ? an unformed 

 pistil). Trees. Leaves alternate, entire. Inflorescence axillary, peduncled, 

 of 1 flower, or several aggregate flowers. ? The male flowers in a corymb. 

 Fruit red or blackish purple, suffused with a frosty appearance. (Nutt. 

 Gen., Lindl. N. S. of Bot., Rees's Cycl., other sources, and observation.) 

 OSY'RIS L. Flowers apetalous, unisexual, at least in effect; those of the 2 

 sexes upon distinct plants. Male. Flowers borne in lateral racemes, about 

 3 5 in a raceme, and disposed in 1 2 pairs, with a terminal odd one. 

 Calyx spreadingly bell-shaped, 3-parted ; its aestivation valvate. Nectary 

 disk-like, 3-cornered. Stamens 3, arising from the nectary, alternate to its 

 angles, and opposite to the lobes of the calyx ; anthers of 2 separate lobes 

 that open inwards. (T. Nees ab E.) Scopoli (Fl. Cam.) has seen the 

 rudiments of an ovary, and of styles, in the male flower. (Wil/d. Sp. PI.) 

 Female. Flowers solitary. Calyx urceolate ; its tube connate with the 

 ovary ; its limb free, 3-cleft. Style single. Stigmas 3. There are not 

 any rudiments of stamens. (T 7 . Nees ab Esenb.) Rather the flower is 

 bisexual, but it does not bear seed unless a male plant is contiguous. 

 (Wil/d. Sp. PL) Fruit globose, fleshy exteriorly, crowned by the limb of 

 the calyx, and the remains of the style. Carpel with crustaceous, brittle 

 walls. Seed affixed by its base. Embryo incurved, in the centre of fleshy 

 albumen. O. alba L. y the only known undisputed species, is a shrub with 

 twiggy branches, alternate, linear-lanceolate, small leaves, white flowers, and 

 red fruit. (T. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. PI, Flora: Germanicce.) 



GENUS I. 



NY'SSJ L. THE NYSSA, or TUPELO TREE. Lin. Syst. Polygamia Dice'cia; 

 or rather, according to Smith in Rees's Cyclopaedia, Decandria Monog/nia. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., 551. ; Lin. Gen., ed. Schreb., No. 1599. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 1112. Mill 



Diet v. 3. ; Rees's Cyclop. 

 Derivation. From Nyssa, a water nymph so called; a name given to this plant by Linnaus, 



because " it grows in the waters." (Hort. Cliff.) Tupelo appears to be an aboriginal name. 



Description, fyc. Deciduous trees, natives of North America, and, though 

 several sorts have been described by botanists, probably all referable to two, 

 or at most three, species : viz. N. bifldra, N. candicans, and N. tomentosa, the 

 last two being very nearly allied. In the case of Nyssa, as in those of .Fraxinus 

 and Quercus, there are seeds of several alleged species procured from America ; 

 and though plants from these may come up tolerably distinct, we do not con- 

 sider that circumstance sufficient to constitute each sort a species. The trees 

 of this genus are of little use for their timber; but the fruit of N. candicans, 

 N. tomentosa, and N. denticulata, gathered a little before maturity, and pre- 

 served with sugar, forms an agreeable conserve, tasting somewhat like cran- 

 berries. (Nuttall Gen. ). In British gardens, two or three of the sorts occa- 

 sionally occur ; but they are not common in collections. The largest nyssa 

 that we know of in England is at Richmond, where, in 1836, it was 45 ft. 

 high. The trees which have flowered in England have, as far as we are 

 aware, only produced male blossoms ; but, to compensate for the want of 

 fruit, the foliage of all the species of the genus dies off of an intensely deep 

 scarlet. The different sorts are almost always raised from seeds ; and seeds 

 with the names of N. denticulata, N. tomentosa, N. aquatica (N. biflora), N. 

 candicans, and N. sylvatica, according to Charlwood's Catalogue for 1H3(>, 

 are sold at Is. a packet. Plants, in the London nurseries, are 2s. Gd. each; 

 at Bollwyller 2 francs ; and at New York, from 25 cents to 1 dollar. 



