MYRICACE^. 203 



Leaflets 7-9. Bark close but not shaggy, and not scaling off 

 on tne old trunks. Husk as in the last. Catkins, shoots, 

 and lower surface of the leaves tomentose -when young. Nut 

 glu6idar. 



3. C. ama'ra, Nutt. (Swamp Hickoby or Bitternut.) 

 Leaflets 7-11. Husk of the fruit splitting half way down. 

 Nut spherical, short-pointed. Bark smooth, not scaling off. 

 — Moist ground. 



4. C. porei'na, Nutt. (Pig-nut. Bkoom-Hiokobt.) Leaf- 

 lets 5-7. Shoots, eto., glabrous. Husk as in the last. Nut 

 oblong or oval. — Niagara district, and south- westward. 



LXXXVII. MYRICA'CE.S:. (Sweet-Gaus F.) 



Shrubs with monoecious or dioecious flowers, both sterile 

 and fertile ones collected in short catkins or heads. Leaves 

 with resinous dots, usually fragrant, Fruit a 1-seeded dry 

 drupe or little nut, usually coated with little waxy grains. 



Syuopsis of tUe Geiicr.a. 



1. Klyrrca. Flowers chiefly dioecious, catkins lateral, each bract with 



a pair of bractlets underneath. Stamens in the sterile flowers 

 2-8. Ovary solitary in the fertile flowers, 1-celled, tipped with 2 

 thread-like stigmas, and surrounded hy 2-4 small scales at the 

 base. In our species the 2 scales form wings at the base of the 

 nut.— A shrub, 3-5 feet high. 



2. Conipto'uin. A low shrub, a foot or more In height, with fern-like 



very sweet-scented leaves. Flowers monoecious. Sterile catkins 

 cylindrical. Fertile ones spherical, the ovary surrounded by 8 

 awl-shaped persistent scales, so that the catkin resembles a bur. 



1. RITRrCA, L. Batbeert. Wax-Mtetle. 



1. M. Ga'le, L. (Sweet Gale.) Leaves wedge-lanceolate, 

 serrate towards the apex, pale. The small nuts in crowded 

 heads, and winged by the 2 scales. — Bogs. 



2. M. eerif era, L. (Baybere,t. Wax-Myrtle.) Leaves 

 oblong-lanceolate, entire, or wavy-toothed towards the 

 apex, shining and sprinkled with resinous dots on both 

 aides, fragrant. Sterile catkins scattered. Nuts naked. 



