Sweet-Gale (Myricacecz) 205 



Leaves, three quarters to one and one half inches long, 

 entire for about two thirds the length, sharp-toothed 

 toward the apex, fragrant when crushed, appearing 

 later than the flowers. Apex, blunt or slightly 

 pointed. Leaf-stem, very short. 



Fruit, round, dotted ; two-winged by two thick, egg- 

 shaped scales, crowded in an oblong head ; usually 

 two to six nuts in each cluster. 



Found, on the borders of ponds from Canada and south- 

 ward in the mountains, to Carolina. 



A branching shrub, three to five feet high. 



Fig. 96. Sweet-Fern. M. asplenifblia (L.), Banks. 



Flowers, the two kinds often on the same plant, the 

 pistillate forms in rounded clusters with the seed- 

 cases surrounded by eight narrow, persistent scales. 

 April, May. 



Leaves, one to six inches long, narrow, pointed, with 

 large rounded, lobe-like teeth. 



Fruit, a small nut, egg-shape or oval, brown, in clusters, 

 and clothed with the lengthened persistent scales. 

 September. 



Found, in dry, poor, ground, often in large patches, from 

 North Carolina northward and westward. 



A shrub, round-headed, one to two feet high, very 

 aromatic when crushed. It is much used in some locali- 

 ties, medicinally, for summer complaints and for bathing 

 bruises, and in rheumatism. 



" The early colonists of Massachusetts, unfamiliar 

 with the innocent qualities of the plant, tell how, in a 



