266 EBENACE.E. (EBONY FAMILY.) 



gelher in the axils and at the tips of the branches. Low pine barrens, Virginia 

 (Pursh) and southward. Shrub l-4 high. 



3. S Americana., Lara. Leaves oblong, acute at both ends (1-3 

 long), smooth, or barely pulverulent beneath; flowers axillary or in 3-4-flowered 

 racemes (%' long) ; corolla valvate in the bud. (S. glabrum and S. laeve, Ell.) 

 Margin of swamps, Virginia and southward. May. Shrub 4 - 8 high. 



2. HAL<ESIA, Ellis. SNOWDROP or SILVER-BELL-TREE. 



Calyx inversely conical, 4-toothed; the tube 4-ribbed, coherent with the 2-4- 

 oelled ovary. Petals 4, united at the base, or oftener to the middle, into an open 

 bell-shaped corolla, convolute or imbricated in the bud. Stamens 8- 16 : fila- 

 ments united into a ring at the base, and usually a little coherent with the base 

 of the corolla : anthers linear-oblong. Ovules 4 in each cell. Fruit large and 

 dry, 2 -4- winged, within bony and 1 -4-celled. Seeds single in each cell, cylin- 

 drical. Shrubs or small trees, with large and veiny pointed deciduous leaves, 

 and showy white flowers, drooping on slender pedicels, in clusters or short ra- 

 cemes, from axillary buds of the preceding year. Pubescence partly stellate. 

 (Named for S. Hales, author of Vegetable Statics, &c.) 



1. H. tetraptcra, L. Leaves oblong-ovate; fruit 4-winged. Banks 

 of streams, upper part of Virginia, also on the Ohio River at Evansville (Short), 

 and southward. Fruit 1^' long. 



3. SYMPL.OCOS, Jacq. H6PEA, L. SWEET-LEAF. 



Calyx 5-cleft, the tube coherent with the lower part of the 3-celled ovary. 

 Petals 5, imbricated in the bud, lightly united at the base. Stamens very nu- 

 merous, in 5 clusters, one cohering with the base of each petal : filaments slen 

 der : anthers very short. Fruit drupe-like or dry, mostly 1 -celled and 1 -seeded. 

 Shrubs or small trees ; the leaves commonly turning yellowish in drying, and 

 furnishing a yellow dye. Flowers in axillary clusters or racemes, yellow. 

 (Name trvpirXoKos, connected, from the union of the stamens. Hopea was dedi- 

 cated to Dr. Hope, of Edinburgh.) 



1. S. tilictdi'ia, L'Her. (HORSE-SUGAR, &c.) Leaves elongated-ob- 

 long, acute, obscurely toothed, thickish, almost persistent, minutely pubescent 

 and pale beneath (3' -5' long); flowers 6-14, in close and bracted clusters, 

 odorous. Rich ground, Virginia and southward. April. Leaves sweet, 

 greedily eaten by cattle. 



ORDER 66. EBENACE^E. (EBONY FAMILY.) 



Trees or shrubs, with alternate entire leaves, and polygamous regular flow- 

 ers which have a calyx free from the 3-1 2-celled ovary ; the stamens 2-4 

 times as many as the lobes of the corolla, often in pairs before them, their 

 anthers turned inwards, and the fruit a several-celled berry. Ovules 1 or 2, 

 suspended from the summit of each cell. Seeds anatropcus, mostly single in 

 each cell, large and flat, with a smooth coriaceous inte^amer.t; the embryo 



