LXI SANTALA CEH: NY’SSA. 693 
Orpver LXI. SANTALACEZEL. 
ORD. CHaR. Perianth superior, 4—5-cleft, coloured inside; zestivation 
valvate. Stamens 4—5, opposite the segments of the perianth, and inserted 
in their bases. Ovarium inferior, 1-celled, 2—4-seeded. Style 1. Stigma 
generally lobed. Fruit 1-seeded, nucumentaceous or drupaceous. Albumen 
fleshy. Flowers polygamous. (G. Don.) . 
Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous; entire. Flowers in co- 
rymbs, pedunculate.—Trees or shrubs, deciduous ; natives of North America 
and the South of Europe; propagated by seeds. The hardy species are 
two, which are thus contradistinguished : — 
Ny’ssa L. Flowers polygamous. Stamens 5. 
Osy'ris L. Flowers dicecious. Stamens 3. 
Genus I. 
ald 
NY’SSA L. Tue Nyssa, or Tureto Tree. Lin. Syst. Polygamia Dice‘cia ; 
or, according to Smith in Rees’s Cyclopedia, Decandria Monogynia. 
Identification. Lin. Gen., 551.; Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 1112. 
Derivation. From Nyssa, a water nymph so called; a name given to this plant by Linneus, 
because ‘‘it grows in the waters.” (Hort. Cliff) Tupelo appears to be an aboriginal name. 
Gen. Char. Flowers visexual and male, upon distinct plants, and apetalous. 
— Bisexual flower of the calyx connate. Stamens 5. Ovary ovate. Styles 
simple. Stigma acute. Fruit a roundish drupe.—Male flower with the 
calyx 5-parted. Stamens 5—12. (G. Don.) 
Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous; oblong or lanceolate, 
entire. lowers axillary, peduncled, greenish white. Fruit red, or blackish 
purple. — Trees, deciduous; natives of North America; requiring moist 
soil. 
Several sorts have been described by botanists, probably all referable to 
two, or at most three, species, viz. N. biflora, N. candicans, and N. tomen- 
tosa, the last two being very nearly allied. The trees which have flowered in 
England have, as far as we are aware, only produced male blossoms ; but, to 
compensate for the want of fruit, the foliage of all the species of the genus 
dies off of an intensely deep scarlet. The different sorts are almost always 
raised from American seeds, 
¥ 1. N. Birto’ra Miche. The twin-flowered Nyssa, or Tupelo Tree. 
Identification. Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 259.; Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 1113. 
Synonymes. N. aquatica Lin. Sp. Pl. 1511.; N. caroliniana L.; N. integrifdlia Ait. Hort, Kew. 3. 
p. 446.; N. pedanculis uniflbris Gron. Virg.121.; Mountain Tupelo Mart. Mill.; Gum Tree, 
Sour Gum Tree, Peperidge, Amer. 
Engravings. Catesb. Car., 1. t. 41.; Mich. Arb., t. 22.; and our figs. 1354. and 1355, 
Spec. Char., §c. eaves ovate-oblong, entire, acute at both ends, glabrous, 
Female flowers two upon a pe-~ 
duncle. Drupe short, obovate; 
nut striated. (Michr.) A decidu- 
ous tree. Virginia and Carolina, 
in watery places. Height 40 ft. to 
45 ft. Introduced in 1739. Flow- 
ers greenish; April and May. 
Fruit black, about the size of a 
pea, never seen in England. 
In British gardens it does not { 
appear that much pains have ever 
been taken to encourage the growth 
y¥3 
