1320 



ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. 



PART III. 



distinctly striated. The wood is extremely light and soft ; and as, in the arrangement of Its fibres, it 

 resembles other species of the same genus, it is employed for making bowls and trays. The roots, 

 also, are tender and light, and they are used by fishermen to buoy up their nets with, instead of 

 cork. (Ibid.} This species is described in Martyn's Miller as the Virginian water tupelo tree, 

 rising, with a strong upright trunk, to the height of 80 ft. or 100 ft., and dividing into many 

 branches towards the top. The drupes, Professor Martyn adds, " are nearly the size and shape of 

 small olives, and are preserved as that fruit is, by the French inhabitants of the Mississippi, where 

 this species of Nyssw greatly abounds, and is called the olive tree. The timber is white and soft 

 when unseasoned, but light and compact when dry ; which renders it very proper for bowls, c." 

 It sometimes varies, in having the leaves quite glabrous, and less deeply toothed. 



GENUS II. ' 



I & i 



OSY X RIS L. THE OSYRIS, or POET'S CASIA, Lin. Syst. DiceVia Triandria. 



Identification. Lin. Gen. PI. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 715. 

 Synonyme. C&sia Camer., Lob., Alpin., Gesn. 



Derivation. The Osuris of Pliny and Dioscorides is so named from ozos, a branch ; from the length 

 and pliability of the branches. 



1. O. A'LBA L. The \v\\ite-flowered Osyris, or Poefs Casia. 



Identification. Lin. Sp. PL, 1450. ; Willd. Sp. PL, 4. p. 715. ; Roy. Lugdb., 202. ; 

 Sauv. Monsp., 56. ; Gouan Monsp., 502. j Gron. Orient, 308. ; Mill. Diet, No. 

 1. ; Scop. Cam., No. 1215. 



Synonymes. 0. fdliis linearibus acutis Lccfl. It., 169. ; 0. frutescens baccffera 

 Bauh. Pin., 212. : Casia poetica Monspeliensium Cam. Epit., 26., Lob. Ic., 

 432. ; Casia Latinorum Alp. Exot. t 41. ; Casia Monspelii dicta Gesn. Epit., 50. ; 

 weisse Osyris, Ger 



Engravings. Lam. 111., t. 802. ; T. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. Plant. Fl. Ger. Ic. et 

 des Illust, 1 20. ; and our Jig. 1202. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. A shrub 34 ft. high. Stem roundish, striated. Leaves alter- 

 nate, linear-lanceolate, 1 in. long, entire, glabrous. Flowers upon the branch- 

 lets, peduncled. Drupe red, of the size of a pea. (Willd.} A native of Italy, 

 Spain, Montpelier, Libanus, and Carniola. Introduced in 1793, and cultivated 

 by Miller ; but we have not seen the plant The long supple branches of this 

 tree were formerly used for brushes, and they are still used in making crates, 

 or packing-cases in the south of Europe. It .is celebrated by Keats for the 

 whiteness of its flowers : 



" A dimpled hand, 



Fair as some wonder out of Fairy-land, 



Hung from his shoulder: like the drooping flowers 



Of whitest casia, fresh from summenshowers." Poems, p. 24. 



CHAP. XCVII. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER L^EAGNA v CEjE. 



THEY are included in three genera, JElaeagnus Tourn., //ippophae L., and 

 Shepherdza Nutt. ; and these have the following characters : 



Tourn. Flowers, some bisexual; some, in result, male only; 

 both kinds upon one plant. Bisexual flower. Calyx resembling, internally, 

 a corolla; tubular below, bell-shaped above, with a slightly spreading, lobed, 

 deciduous limb ; the lobes mostly 4 ; the tubular part includes, but is not 

 connate with, the ovary and part of the style, and bears at its mouth a 

 conical crown, through which the style passes. Style long. Stigma clavate 

 or coiled. Stamens arising from the bottom of the bell-shaped part, 

 shorter than it, alternate with its lobes, the filaments adnate to it, except at 

 their tip. Ovary oblong. Ovule 1. Fruit consisting of an achenium, and 

 of the tubular part of the calyx rendered fleshy, and including the achenium. 

 Seed erect. Embryo erect. Male flower. Calyx resembling, internally, 

 a corolla, bell-shaped ; it has a limb of 4? 6 8 lobes. Stamens of the 

 number of the lobes; otherwise as in the bisexual flower. A conical crown 



