250 GUM MYRRH-TREE. 



the same largely serrated, dark green leaves, grow- 

 ing in bunches of four or five, springing by several 

 little leaf-stalks from a common centre. These 

 bunches are arranged alternately around the branch, 

 at the distance of half an inch from each other, 

 but varying with the age and size of the branch. 

 The young shoots appear to be these sessile 

 bunches, which, more luxuriant in their growth, 

 project their axis into one long common foot-stalk, 

 around which the leaves are then arranged singly, 

 exactly, if I remember right, as do the young shoots 

 of the hawthorn, the terminations of which, like 

 in the myrrh-tree, decaying, leave strong thorns. 

 The flowers are small, of a light green colour, 

 hanging in pairs beneath the leaves, and in size 

 and shape resemble very much the flowers of our 

 gooseberry-tree. According to the system of 

 Linnaeus, with which alone I am acquainted, it 

 belongs to the class octandria, order monogynia, 

 the eight stamens being alternately long and short, 

 the former corresponding to the four partial clefts 

 in the edge of the one-leafed calyx. The fruit is a 

 kind of berry, that, when ripe, easily throws off 

 the dry shell in two pieces, and the two seeds it 

 contains, escape. The outer bark is thin, trans- 

 parent, and easily detached, the inner thick, woody, 

 and, if cut with a knife, appears to abound with 

 vessels, from the divided extremities, of which a 

 yellow turbid fluid (the gum myrrh) immediately 

 makes its appearance. This, if. wiped off upon 



