2032 ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. PART III. 



in an unexpected and satisfactory manner. In its amen- 

 taceous inflorescence, imperfect flowers, superior calyx, 

 and mode of germination, Garryr/ is very similar to Cu- 

 puliferae, from which it differs most essentially in its wood 

 without concentric circles or dotted vessels, its opposite 

 exstipulate leaves, simple fruit, and minute embryo lying 

 in a great mass of albumen. The latter characters bring 

 it near Piperacese and their allies, especially Chlorantheae, 

 with which its zoneless wood (for Chloranthus has no 

 annual zones), simple fruit, and opposite leaves, also 

 agree; but the stipules of Chlorantheae, together with 

 its achlamydeous bisexual flowers, and articulated stems, 

 distinctly separate that order." (Sot. Reg., t. 16^6.) 

 Only the male plant of Garry elliptica is in the country. 

 When in flower (which it is from December till April), the 

 plant has a most striking and graceful appearance, from 

 its slender pendulous catkins, many of which are 8 in. to 1 ft. in length. It 

 was at first grown in peat, but appears to prefer a loamy soil. It is readily 

 increased by layers; and by cuttings in sand under a hand-glass. Plants, in 

 the Fulham Nursery, in 1837, were 21s. each. 



CHAP. CVII. 



OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER PLAT AVI A^CEM. 



PLA'TANUS Tourn. Flowers unisexual; those of the two vsexes upon one 

 plant, and those of each sex disposed many together, and densely, in 

 globular catkins, that are sessile upon pendulous rachises, 2 generally upon 

 a rachis ; the flowers of each sex upon a separate rachis, produced from a 

 separate bud. Catkin of male flowers constituted of minute, rather fleshy, 

 persistent bracteas, and of deciduous stamens. Filaments very short, 

 situated between the bracteas, and of about their length. Anthers of 

 2 cells, longer than the filament; attached longitudinally to a connectivum, 

 which is broader than the filament, and has a peltate tip. Catkin of female 

 flowers constituted of bracteas and pistils. Pistils numerous, approxi- 

 mately pairs. Ovary of 1 cell, including I 2 pendulous ovules. Stigmas 

 2, long, thread-shaped, glanded in the upper part. Fruit a utricle, densely 

 covered with articulated hairs, including 1 pendulous, oblong, exalbuminous 

 seed. Species, about 4. Natives of the temperate zones of the eastern 

 and western hemispheres. Tall trees. Leaves alternate, palmate, annual; 

 their margins revolute in the bud. Leaf-bud covered with a conical enve- 

 lope; and immersed, in the preceding year, in the base of the petiole. (7 ? . 

 Nees ab Essenb. Gen. PI. Fl. Germ., and observation.) The young shoots, 

 leaves, and stipules are thickly covered with down, which as soon as they 

 become fully expanded is cast off, and, floating in the atmosphere, is inhaled 

 by gardeners and others who have occasion to be much among the trees, 

 and produces a cough which is extremely disagreeable, and is not got rid 

 of for several weeks. The inconvenience arising from this down, Michaux 

 informs us, is well known in America, and it has been long familiar to 

 French nurserymen. M. Ch. Morren, Professor of Botany at the Uni- 

 versity of Liege, gives an account of it in the Transactions of the Royal 

 Academy of Brussels, under the title of " Note sur 1'Effet pernicieux du 

 Duvet du Platane;" the only preventive which he mentions is the ob- 

 vious one adopted by M. Henrard, nurseryman at Liege, viz., that of co- 

 vering the nose and the mouth with a handkerchief of fine gauze. (See 

 p. 2015., and UEcho du Monde Savant, Jan. 6. 1838.) 



