936 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
male catkins are axillary and sessile; but have not the shining scales of the 
Myrica Gale. The fruits are globose drupes, about the bigness of a grain of 
black pepper; covered with an unctuous substance as white as snow, which 
gives them the appearance of a kind of sugar plum. Like the Myrica Gale 
of Europe, it delights in wet places about swamps or rivers. 
In France and Germany, it has been cultivated with a view 
to its producing wax; and it is said to thrive in sandy peat, 
rather moist, and to produce an abundant crop of berries 
every year. In Prussia, it has been cultivated in a garden 
on the banks of the Spree, near Berlin, in lat. 52° 53’; which 
is nearly 13 degree farther north than London, but where the 
mean annual temperature is 2° 9’ higher than London ; and 
wax and candles have been made from the fruit. 
M. spathulata Mirb, Mém. Mus, 14, p. 474, t. 28. f. 1.; 
and our jig. 1745.— Leaves spathulate, blunt, quite entire, 
glabrous. Male catkins sessile, axillary, solitary, shorter than 
the petioles. A tree, with smooth, cylindrical branches. 
Leaves lin. to 23 in. long, and Zin. to lin. broad. Found in 
Madagascar by M. Pérodet. Not yet introduced. Meet. 
Genus II. 
COMPTO'NIA Solan, Tue Compronia. Lin. Syst. Mone'cia Tridndria. 
Identification. Ait. Hort. Kew., 2 ed., 5. p. 254.; Geertn. Fruct., 1. p. 58.; N. Du Ham., 2. p. 45. 
Synonymes. Liquidimbar Lin. Sp.; Myrica Lin. Hort. Cliff: 456.; Gale Petiv. Mus. 773.; Comp- 
tone, Fr.; Comptonie, Ger. 
Derivation. Named by Dr. Solander in honour of Henry Compton, Bishop of London, the in- 
troducer and cultivator of many curious exotic plants, and one of the greatest patrons of botany 
and gardening of his time. 
Gen. Char. Male catkins lateral, cylindrical, of several flowers. Bracteas 
imbricated. Flower of 3 twin stamens, seated towards the base of a brac- 
tea; sessile. Anthers 2-lobed, opening at the side.— Female catkins lateral, 
ovate, of several flowers. Bracteas imbricated. Flower consisting of a 
calyx and pistil. Calysr free, flat, 6-parted. Segments slender, unequal in 
length; the longest as long again as the bractea. Style short. Stigmas 2. 
Fruit 1-celled, ovate, hard, shining, attended by the calyx. Seed 1, oval. 
(G. Don.) A 
Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous ; 
lanceolate, pinnatifidly toothed, downy, sprinkled 
with golden, resinous, transparent particles. Flowers 
whitish.—Shrubs dwarfish; natives of North Ame- 
rica ; fragrant, from the resinous particles which cover 
the whole plant. Culture and soil as in Myrica. 
1. C. ASPLENIFO'LIA Solan, The Asplenium-leaved 
Comptonia. 
identifection, Ait. Hort. Kew., 5. p. 2534.; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 
. p. 635. 
Synonymes. Liquidambar asplenifolium Lin. Sp. 1418. ; L. peregri- 
num Lin. Syst. 860.; Myrica Lin. Hort. Cliff: 456. ; Gale mariana 
Pet. Mus. 773. ; M§rtus brabantice affinis Pluk. Phyt. t. 100. f. 6, 
Tes the sweet Fern Bush, Amer. 
Hngravings, N. Du Ham., t.11.; Dend. Brit., t. 166.; and our 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves long, linear, alternate, cre- 
nately pinnatifid. (Wil/d.) A deciduous shrub. New 
England to Virginia, in sandy, stony, or slaty woods, 1746. C. asplenifolia. 
