CHAP. CVII1. 



BALSAM A CE2E. LlgUIDA MBAR. 



2049 



catkins solitary, situated below the male, and upon longer stalks ; globose, 

 consisting of numerous ovaries, each surrounded by a few scales, and 

 having two cells. Styles 2, long. Fruit a kind of cone, composed of in- 

 durated connected scales, in the cavities of which lie obconical, 2-lobed, 

 2-celled capsules. Seeds numerous, or solitary by abortion ; compressed, 

 membranous, winged, attached internally to the middle of the dissepi- 

 ments in a peltate manner. Embryo inverted in the midst of albumen. 

 — Species 3. Inhabiting the warmer parts of North America, and Mexico, 

 the Levant, and the tropics of India. Deciduous trees, yielding balsam. 

 Leaves alternate, simple, or lobed, with glandular serratures at the edges. 

 Stipules deciduous. (Blume, as quoted in Lindl. Nat. Syst. Hot., and N. Du 

 Ham. For a long time, only two species were known to European bota- 

 nists ; one a native of Asia Minor, the other of the temperate parts of 

 North America; but Blume states that there is a third, which inhabits the 

 tropics of the south of Asia, and more particularly Java, even reaching as 

 far as New Guinea. (Blume Fl. Jav.) 



Genus I. 



m 



LIQUIDA'MBAR L. The Liquidambar. Lin. Syst. Monoe'cia 

 Polyandria. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., 1076. ; Reich., 1174. ; Schreb., 1452. ; Clayi. Mitch., 12. ; Gaertn., t. 90. ; 



Juss., 410. 

 Synonymes. Alting/Vi Noronha ; ' Liquidambar, Fr. ; Ambarbaum, Ger. 

 Derivation. From liquidus, liquid, and ambar, amber; the plants exuding a liquid gum. 



Description, <$rc Deciduous trees, natives of North America and the 

 Levant ; cultivated in British pleasure-grounds for the beauty and fragrance 

 of their foliage. 



X 1. L. Styraci'flua L. The Sweet Gum Liquidambar. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1418. ; Ait. 'Hort. Kew., 3. p. 365. ; Reich., 4. p. 171. ; Mat. Med., 204.; 

 Gasrtn. Fruct., 2. p. 58. ; Kalm Itin., 2. p. 102. ; Du Roy Harbk., 1. p. 369. ; Blackw., t. 485. ; 

 Michx. Arb., 3. p. 194. ; N. Du Ham., 2. p. 42. 



Synonymes. Liquidambar arbor Pluk. Aim., 224. t. 42. f. 6., Cat. Car., 2. p. 65., Du Ham. Arb., 1. 

 1. 139. ; Styrax ^'ceris folio Rati Hist., 1481. ; Liquidambar r£sineux, Copalme de l'Amerique, Liqui- 

 dambar Copal, Fr. ; Fliesender Ambarbaum, Ger. 



Engravings. Blackw., t. 485. ; Pluk. Aim., t. 42. f. 6. ; Cat. Car., t. 65. ; Du Ham. Arb., 1. 1. 139. ; 

 Michx. Arb., 3. t. 4. ; our fig. 1961. ; and the plates of this tree in outlast Volume. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves palmately lobed, with the sinuses at the base of the 

 veins villose. ( Willd.) A deciduous tree, a native of North America, where 

 it grows from 30 ft. to 50 ft. high, and flowers in March or April. 

 Descriptiony cfc. The liquidambar generally forms a branching tree, having 



very much the appearance of a maple ; and varying from 30 ft. to 50 ft. in 



height, with a trunk from 5 ft. or 6 ft., 

 to 12 ft. or 15 ft. in circumference. Ac- 

 cording to Michaux, in America, when 

 grown among other trees, it has a per- 

 fectly straight trunk, nearly uniform in 

 thickness, to the height of 30 ft. or 40 ft. 

 before it begins to divide into branches. 

 In Europe, it seldom exceeds 40 ft. in 

 height. The bark of old trees is thick, 

 and deeply furrowed ; but on young 

 trees it is comparatively smooth! On 

 dry gravelly soil, it does not attain a 

 greater height than 15 ft. or 20 ft.; 

 and its secondary branches become co- 

 vered with a dry flaky bark, the plates 

 of which are attached at the edge, in- 



6 R 2 



1961 



