2056 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART ill. 



th6smyrtiftlia belgica Ba'uh. Pin., 414.; R. 

 k. Theat., p. 1451. ; Myrica palustris Lam.; 



1966 



*. Gale, Pr. ; Wachs Strauss, Ger. 

 ivation. From myro, to flow ; the plants being found on the banks of rivers. 



Description, fyc. Aromatic shrubs ; natives of Europe and North America. 

 They are of low growth, and generally require a moist, peaty soil. In 

 British gardens, the species are propagated by layers, the stools being planted 

 in moist peat soil. As the species throw up abundance of suckers, they may 

 be also propagated by removing them, or by division of the plant. The 

 American species is sometimes propagated by seeds, which should be sown 

 in autumn, as soon after they are received from America as possible ; for, if 

 kept out of the ground till spring, they will not come up till the spring follow- 

 ing. Plants, in the London nurseries, are from 6d. to 2s. each; at Boll- 

 wyller, 1 franc 50 cents ; and at New York, 37 to 50 cents. 



& 1. M. GA^LE L. The Sweet Gale, Sweet Willow, Candkberry Myrtle, or 



Dutch Myrtle. 



Identification. Lin. Sp. PL, 1453. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 745. ; Fl. Br., 1076. ; Eng. Bot., t 562. ; 



Hook. Scot, 288. ; Fl. Dan., t 327. ; Ehrh. PI. Off., 339. ; N. Du. Ham., 2. p. 194. ; Eng. Fl., 4. 



p. 239. ; Hook. Br. FL, p. 432. ; Lindl. Synop., p. 242. ; Mackay FL Hibern., p. 257. ; Lodd. Cat., 



ed. 1836. 

 Synonymes. Gale Raii Syn., 443., Bauh. Hist., 1. p. 2. ; la?&gnus Card. Hist., 212., Lob. Ic.,2. 



p. 116. ; My>tus brabantica Ger. Emac., p. 1414. ; 7?hui 



sylvestris feltera Dalech. Hist., 110. ; R. sylvestris Park 



Gale, Pimento royal, Fr. ; gemeine Wachs Strauch, Ger. 

 Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 562. ; Fl. Dan., t. 327. ; Hayne, t. 200. ; Lob. Ic., 2. p. 116. f. ; N. Du 



Ham., 2. t. 57. ; and our fig. 1966. 

 The Sexes. Both are in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddlges. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves lanceolate, serrated ; tapering 

 and entire at the base. Scales of the catkins 

 pointed. (Smith.) A deciduous aromatic shrub, 

 which rises with many stems, from 2 ft. to 4 ft. high ; 

 dividing into several slender branches, which are 

 covered with a ferruginous- coloured bark, sprinkled 

 with white dots. The leaves are alternate, on short 

 footstalks, obovate-lanceolate, tapering and serrated 

 towards the point. They are rigid, smooth on both 

 sides, and of a light or yellowish green, palest on the 

 under side. They are covered with resinous dots, 

 which emit a delightful fragrance when bruised. Ac- 

 cording to Sir W. J. Hooker, the whole " plant 

 diffuses an agreeable smell : 



' Gale from the bog shall waft Arabian balm.' " 



Brit. jF?or.,ed.2.,p.432. 



The catkins are numerous and sessile; they are formed in the course 

 of the summer's growth, and remain on during the winter, expanding 

 the following spring, before the leaves. The flower buds are above 

 the leaf buds, at the ends of the branches ; whence, as soon as the 

 fructification is completed, the end of the branch dies, the leaf buds 

 which are on the sides shoot out, and the stems become compound. 

 The scales of the male catkins are of a red shining brown ; and the 

 lower ones of the female catkins have a circlet of red hairs towards the 

 tip. The berries are very small, and covered with resinous dots, like 

 the leaves. Though the male and female flowers are generally produced 

 on different plants, they are sometimes found on the same plant; a fact first 

 observed by John Templeton, Esq., of Belfast. (See Smith's Eng. Flora, 

 iv. p. 239.) The sweet gale is a native of the north and centre of 

 Europe, of the north of Asia, and of North America, in Pennsylvania and 

 Canada. In Europe, it is found in Lapland, Norway, and Sweden, France, 

 Germany, and the Austrian dominions, as far south as the north of Italy. 

 In Great Britain, it is found from Sutherland and the Grampian Mountains, 

 to Cornwall, as high as 1400ft. above the level of the sea; being more 

 hardy than the hazel. It is a native of Ireland ; and there, as every where 

 else, it is found almost exclusively in bogs and marshes. The gale was 

 noticed by all the older botanists : Ray and Bauhin (in his Historia 



