244 



X AT UT, Al, HISTORY OF ri A XTS. 



southern United States. It is a shrub the leaves of which remind 

 us of those of the Willows and Chestnuts; they are alternate, 

 petiolate, accompanied by lateral stipules ; oblong, pointed, penni- 

 nerved, entire, tomentose beneath. The flowers develop before 

 them, on the wood of the branches where the catkins occupy the 

 axil of the fallen leaves. The stamens are somewhat raised with 

 the contracted base of the axillant bracts. 1 



VI. MYRICA SERIES. 

 The flowers are equally amentaceous in the Myrecœ 2 (fig. 217 — 

 225), and are likewise destitute of a true perianth ; most generally, 



Myrica (/<;/<■. 



Fig. 219. Female 

 catkin (}). 



Fig. 217. Youn 



blanch 



ale fioriferous Fig. 221. Long. sect. Fig. 220. Female 



of female lluwer. 



flower Q). 



as in the indigenous species, Myrica Gale L. (tig. 217 — 223), they 

 are dioecious and borne on simple catkins. In this species, in the 



1 Here perhaps will be placed the genus 

 Didijmeles Dup.-Th. doubtfully referred by us 

 to the Zanthoxylece (Sist. ties Plant, iv. 392, 

 note 1), and which with C. De Candolle 

 (Prodi: xvii. 292), as with Meissnek (Gen. 

 Cumm. 250) is perhaps a Myrica. Its carpels, 



grouped in pairs face to face, are organized like 

 those of Leittieria, but its stamens arc also in 

 pairs on the common axis of the catkin facing 

 each other. 



2 Myrica L. Gen. ed. 1, n. 7-16 (part.).— J. 

 Gen. 409, 453.— G;ebtn. Fruet. i. 190, t. 39.— 



