SWEET GALE FAMILY 



443 



i. C.demersum (Common Hornwort). — Leaves dark green; fruit 

 with 2 spines at its base and terminated by the persistent, subu- 

 late, curved style. — Slow streams and ditches, entirely submerged. 

 — Fl. June — September. Perennial. 



2. C. submersum, paler green, without spines to the fruit and 

 with a shorter style, occurs under similar conditions. 



§§ Flowers in catkins 

 Ord. LXXIV. MyricAce^e. — The Sweet Gale Family 



A small group of shrubs and trees, widely distributed in tem- 

 perate and tropical climates, 

 and generally characterised 

 by the excretion of wax. 

 They have scattered, simple 

 leaves; generally dioecious 

 flowers in catkins ; stamens 

 ?. — 16; ovary i-chambered, 

 i -ovuled ; styles 2 ; fruit 

 drupe - like, 1 - seeded, 

 covered all over with wax. 

 Myrica cerifera, the Bay- 

 berry, Wax Myrtle, or 

 Candleberry Myrtle of 

 North America, and M. 

 cordifolia of South Africa 

 have been used in candle- 

 making. Yang-maes are the 

 edible sub-acid fruit of M. 

 Nagi, a native of China and 

 Japan. The aromatic leaves 

 of the one European species, 

 M. Gale, are astringent and 

 tonic, and are used for tea 

 and in rustic medicine. 



1. Myrica (Sweet Gale). 

 — Stamens 4 — 8. (Name, 

 the Greek name of the 

 Tamarisk.) 



1. M. Gale (Sweet Gale, 

 Bog Myrtle). — A bushy, 

 resinous shrub, 2 — 4 feet 

 high, flowering before leafing; leaves obovate-lanceolate, shortly- 

 stalked, serrate towards the apex, fragrant when bruised ; catkins 



myrica {Sweet Gale). 



