STORAX FAMILY 



Calyx. Obconical, four-ribbed, adnate to ovary, four-toothed, 

 tomentose. 



Corolla. Campanulate, epigynous, slightly four-lobed, white. 



Stamens. Eight to sixteen, inserted on the base of the corolla : 

 filaments flattened ; anthers oblong, adnate or free at base, introrse, 

 opening longitudinally. 



Pistil. Ovary inferior, four-celled ; style long, simply stigmatic 

 at apex. 



Fruit. Dry, crowned with the calyx limb and tipped by the per- 

 sistent style ; ellipsoidal, four-winged ; one and a half to two inches 

 long, an inch broad, ripens late and remains on branches till mid- 

 winter. 



The Silverbell is a most beautiful ornament for lawn or 

 park. A native of the mountainous regions of the south it 



is perfectly hardy at the 

 north, although in New 

 England it keeps its 

 shrubby form and in the 

 middle west becomes only 

 a small tree. It reaches 

 its greatest size on the 

 western slopes of the 

 mountains of North Caro- 

 lina and Tennessee. 



Its flowering time is in 

 May. The flower buds 

 have been upon the 



branches all winter and just as the leaves have fairly put 

 forth, the blossoms appear, and clusters of drooping cream- 

 white bells transform the tree into one great white mass of 

 which every branch, from highest to lowest, drips blossoms. 

 The flowering period lasts about three weeks and the Silver- 

 bell is worthy to be grouped with the June-berry, the Dog- 

 wood and the Redbud as a flowering tree of rare elegance 

 and beauty. 



The Snowdrop-tree, Mohrodendron dipterum, is a closely 

 allied species which has developed on the low lands along 

 the southern coast. The two have nearly the same range, 



202 



Flowers of the Silverbell-tree, Mobrodendron 

 carolinum. 



