246 



NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



Myrica {Camptonia) asplenifolia. 



bracts there is a rudimentary flower very imperfectly developed, and 

 sometimes described as a gland or bud. In many American and 

 Cape species, the female flower is surrounded by three or four 

 bracteoles, sometimes resembling a small calyx. These appendages 

 may also be observed around the 

 base of the stamens, as in M. 

 nagi,^ a Japanese plant, and in 

 many Mexican and Columbian 

 species. In some others from 

 the same countries, and in M. 

 CEthiopicaj the flowers are 

 monoecious, and those of the 



M\s 





two sexes are found united in 



the same catkin. In such case, p^^ 225. Long. sect. Fig. 224. Female flower 



the males, in goodly number, of female flower. with bracts (f). 



occupy the lower portion of the axis of the inflorescence and 

 its ramifications, and the females the summit. The latter, 

 however, is simple ; whilst in the Asiatic species, and in M. Fay a, 

 a plant of the Canaries, Madeira, the Azores, and the Spanish 

 peninsula, for which it has also been proposed to establish a 

 distinct genus, ^ the male catkins are compound, and represent each 

 one of the divisions, sometimes pretty numerous, of a ramified 

 cluster. The male flowers are not, as in many other sections of the 

 genus, accompanied by bracteoles. The genus Myrica includes 

 about thirty-five species,^ and inhabits all parts of the world, chiefly 

 the temperate regions. 



This family, still perhaps heterogeneous with the limits here 

 assigned to it, was still more so till recently. It was established by 

 Adanson, in 1763, under the family name of Castanece^ With him 

 it comprised only three sections, of which the first only corresponds 



^ Type of tlie g. Nageia (GiBRTX. Fruct. i. 

 191, t. 39, fig. 8). 



2 Faya Weeb, Phyt, Canar. iii. 372. 



3 L. Spec. 1418 [Liquidambar), 1453 ; Mantiss. 

 298.— Thunb. FL Jap. 76 ; Fl. Cjp. (ed. Sch.), 

 153, 158.— W. Spec. 746.— Jacq. Ic. Bar. t. 625 ; 

 Fragm. ii. t. 1, fig. 4. — Duham. Arbr. ed. 2, t. 

 55, 56.— H. B. K. Nov. Gen. et Sikc. ii. 17, t. 98. 

 — MiRB. Mem. Mus. xiv. t. 27, 28. — Michx. 

 Fl, Bor.-Amer. ii. 620.— Bl. Bijdr. 517 ; Fl. Jav. 

 Myric. — Ait. Sort. Keiv. iii. 396. — Roxb. Fl. 

 Ind. (ed. 1832), iii. 765.— Wall. Tent. FL Nepal. 

 59, t. 45.— Wight, Icon. t. 764.— Wats. Bendrol. 



ii. 166, t. 156 {Comptoma).—k. Kick. Tent. Fl. 

 Abyss, ii. 277. — Cham, et Schltl. Imncea,Yi. 

 336.~Reichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. xi. t. 620.— Tausch, 

 in Flora (1831), 671.— Sieb. et Zucc. Abh. d. 

 Baier. Akad.d. Wissensch. iv. 3, 230. — BucH. in 

 Flora (1845), 89.— Benth. PI. Eartweg. 251, 

 266 ; Fl.Hongk. 322.— Griseb. Fl. Wright. 177 ; 

 Fl. Brit. W.-Ind. 177.— Mm. Fl. Ind.-Bat. i. 

 872 ; Mus. ludg.-Bat. iii. 129.— A. Grat, Man. 

 ed. 5, 457, 458 (Comptonia). — Chapm. Fl. S. 

 Unit. St. 426, 427 {Comptonia).— G-^-b^ . et 

 GoDR. Fl. de Fr. iii. 151.— Walp. Ann. i. 738. 

 ^ Fam. des PI. ii. 366 {Castanea). 



