BALSAMIFLl .K. 



vn I 1 to 2 feet thick, with acutely an Tied or winged brandies. Learnt often J to 8 

 inches Ions, and about as wide owthe young sKoots ; whilst on, full-grown trees 

 they are only 2 to 3 inches long. The buds are covered with resin. 



5. P. BALSAMIFERA, L. Balsam Poplar. Tacamahac. 

 Leaves ovate-acuminate, finely serrate, smooth on both sides, white and reticu- 

 late-veined beneath; scales dilated, slightly hairy; stamens very numerous. 



Borders of rivers and swamps, rare. April. A tree 60 to 70 feet high, and 1 to 

 VyZ, feet thick, with rcund branches. The buds are covered when young with a 

 balsamic resin. 



CULTIVATED SPECIES. 



6. P. candicans, Ait, Balm-of-Gilead. 



Leaves orate -cordate, acuminate, obtusely and unequally serrate, whitish be- 

 neath, somewhat 3-veined ; petioles hirsute. 



Woods, common in cultivation. April. A trea 40 to 50 feet high, and 18 to 30 

 inches in diameter, with smooth and greenish bark, and large dark green foliage. 

 Fertile aments 6 inches long. The buds are covered with a balsamic resin, much 

 used in domestic practice. 



7. P. dilatata, L. Lombard \ > Poplar. 



Leaves smooth, deltoid, acuminate, serrate, about as wide as long; trunk lobed' 

 and sulcate. Native in Italy as its name imports. It has long been cultivated in 

 this country, and is found in the vicinity of all old settlements. 



8. P. ALBA, L. Abele. Silver Poplar. 



Leaves heart-shaped, broad-ovate, lobed and toothed, acuminate, dark green and 

 smooth above, very white downy beneath ; fertile aments ovate ; siigmas 4. A high- 

 ly ornamental tree, native of Europe. The silvery whiteness of the lower surface 

 of the leaves produce a striking contrast with the dark green of the upper. 



ORD3Rtl07. BALSAMIFLUJE— Sweet-Gum Family, 



Trees, with a balsamic colorless juice, alternate palmately lobed leaves, deciduous 

 stipules, and monoecious flowers in seperate roundish aments, destitute of calyx or co- ■ 

 rolla, the fruit of2rbcaked and 2-cdled s&veralrseedzd ivocdy capsules: consists only of 

 the genus 



LIQUIDAMBAR, Linn. Sweet-Gum. 



Lat. liquidum, fluid, and Arabic ambar, amber, in allusion to the terebinthine 

 juice that flows from the tree. 



Sterile flowers in conical clusters, naked. Stamens 

 numerous, intermixed with minute seales : filaments short; 

 Fertile aments consisting of 2-celled ovaries, subtended; 

 by minute scales, all more or less cohering and hardening in 

 fruit, forming a spherical head, the capsule opening between 

 the 2 awl-shaped diverging styles. Seeds small, often abor- 

 tive. — Tree, with alternate simple or lobed haves deciduous 

 3tipules and racemed nodding aments, inclosed in the bud by a 4* 

 leaved deciduous involucre. 



i 



