418 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
April, but usually in October or November, and stand, three or 
four together, nodding on the end of a brown, downy footstalk, 
one quarter or one third of an inch long, in the axil of the 
falling or fallen leaf, from an involucre of three to five, round, 
concave, russet, downy scales. Each flower is supported by a 
single, dark brown, ovate scale, like the scale of a bud. Within 
this are two or three similar scales or bracts, surrounding the 
calyx. The calyx is divided into four segments, russet and 
downy without, and yellow within, ovate, rounded and ciliate. 
There are four, long, linear, crumpled, yellow petals, at whose 
base, within, are short, incurved, yellow scales. Alternate 
with these are the four fertile stamens, curved inwards, and 
with their anthers projecting on each side like wings, and open- 
ing by lids. From the centre diverge two short, slender styles, 
surmounting the downy, ovate ovary. ‘The fruit 1s a double 
nut, invested, below the middle, by the persistent, swollen, 
four-parted calyx. The capsular covering bursts elastically in 
two, disclosing the two nuts covered with shining, blackish, 
crustaceous shells. 
The wood is white, flexible, and of a fine, close texture. 
The bark has the reputation of having efficacy in allaying 
pain, and is said to have been applied by the native Indians for 
that purpose, to tumors and inflamed surfaces. They also 
applied a poultice of the inner bark td remove inflammation of 
the eyes. 
It is found in moist woods, from Canada to Louisiana. 
As it produces flowers late in autumn and even in winter, it 
is deserving of cultivation. It may be propagated by layers or 
by seed, and it will grow readily in any tolerable soul, in a 
somewhat moist situation. 
