0277 



FOTHERGILLA 



Family: AMENTACEAE [Translator's note: the tree is now classified in the family 

 Hamamelidaceae]. 



Reproductive system: POLYANDRY, DlGYNY. 



The fothergilla with elm-like leaves, Fothergilla ulmifolia, Linn.supp., is a bushy, 

 branchy shrub about a meter high. The leaves are alternate, large, entire at their base, 

 dentate at their tips, almost oval, quite similar to those of the alder. The small, white 

 flowers form oval spikes; they appear before the leaves have completely developed. The 

 calyx has five or six small uneven teeth; there is no corolla. The stamens are very 

 numerous and have long filaments. The ovary is free and surmounted by two long club- 

 shaped styles. It turns into a bilobed capsule with two compartments, two valves, and 

 terminates in two points. It contains four osseous seeds. 



FLOWERS: in April and May. 



RANGE: North America; it's been acclimatized in France and England for about 

 fifty years. 



NOMENCLATURE. Linnaeus Jr. named this tree after Fothergill, a renowned 

 English physician who died in 1780. He was a true philanthropist, judging from the 

 epitaph on his tombstone: 



Here lies Doctor Fothergill who spent two hundred thousand guineas to 

 comfort the needy. 



USES. Its clusters of early white flowers make an attractive sight in groves in 

 springtime. 



CULTIVATION. This is a hardy tree. In the north of France it gets through the 

 winter in open ground. It can be cultivated in all kinds of soil, but it's much prettier and 

 blooms more fully in heath compost. It's propagated from layers and from seeds. 



M. Bosc [Translator's note: Louis Augustin Guillaume Bosc, 1759-1828, French 

 naturalist], who observed it in damp regions of large woodlands in Carolina, reported that 

 the flowers emit a strong but not unpleasant aroma, and that its capsules 



