750 



THE CATKIN FAMILY. 



two or three small North American or South African genera, it forms 

 a distinct tribe approaching Hippophae in the 2-lobed female perianth 

 and almost drupe-like nut. 



1. Sweet Gale. Myrica Gale, Linn. (Fig. 902.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 562.) 



An erect shrub, of 2 or 3 feet, fra- 

 grant when rubbed. Leaves deciduous, 

 cuneate-oblong or lanceolate, slightly- 

 toothed towards the top, and often ra- 

 ther downy underneath. Catkins sessile 

 along the ends of the branches ; the 

 males scarcely 6 lines long, with spread- 

 ing, concave, shining scales ; the fe- 

 males much shorter, the long styles pro- 

 truding from the scales. Fruiting cat- 

 kins somewhat lengthened; the globular, 

 resinous nuts scarcely above a line in 

 diameter. 



In bogs and wet moors in northern 

 and Arctic Europe, Asia, and America. 

 Abundant in Scotland, northern Eng- 

 land, and Ireland, rarer in the south and 

 east of England, Fl. spring, before the 

 leaves are out. 



Fig. 902. 



II. ALDER. ALNUS. 



Flowers monoecious, the males in cylindrical catkins, usually pen- 

 dulous, with broad, almost sessile scales. Stamens 12 within each 

 scale, the anthers on very short filaments, with a small scale under 

 each, usually forming 3 distinct, nearly regular, 4-cleft perianths. 

 Female catkins short, closely imbricated ; the scales entire, with 2, 

 rarely 3, smaller inner scales. Ovaries 2 within each scale, 2-celled, 

 with a pendulous ovule in each cell. Styles 2. Fruiting catkin ovoid, 

 the scales (formed of the catkin-scale, with the 2 inner ones com- 

 bined), hard, almost woody, remaining after the nuts have fallen. 

 Nuts small and seed-like, without wings. 



A small genus, confined to the northern hemisphere, closely con- 

 nected with the JBirches through some intermediate exotic species. 



