188 



THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



its branchlets are rather slender. The leaves are alternate, 

 from one and a half to three inches long, and from one to 

 two broad: they are of a dark green color, oval-oblique at 

 the base, and sharply pointed, finely serrated, and somewhat 

 rough : they are borne on rather slender footstalks. In the 

 autumn the leaves, which hang on late, assume a bright yel- 



*«<Vl'^-^:>-^r-^^'^ 



10. THE NETTLE TREE. 



low tint, and fall from the tree nearly at the same time. The 

 bark is of a pale ^ray, smooth on the young branches and 

 rough on the old wood. 



The flowers are small, white, and single, opening early in 

 the spring, and are borne on long footstalks at the axils of the 

 leaves, — on the upper part of the branches one at the axil, 

 and, on the lower, three ; they have a calyx of five or six 



