THE TAMAKISK FAMILY. 



443 



On these being touched by an insect, the lobes immediately 

 collapse like a common rat-trap, and remain closed until 

 the insect ceases to move. This action can also be witnessed 

 by touching the hairs with a fine point. It is a very rare 

 plant, being found in a very small area near Wilmington, 

 in South Carolina, United States. 



The Tamarisk Family. 



(Tamaricace^.) 



Shrubs, rarely trees, with rod-like, smooth bay-coloured 

 stems, having twiggy branches closely furnished with small 

 heath-like, alternate leaves. Flowers in spikes or spiked 

 racemes, having a feathery appearance when mature. Calyx 

 persistent. Petals 5. Stamens 5 or 10. Pistils 3. Fruit 

 a 3-valved capsule, with numerous feathered seeds. 



About 40 species are enumerated of this family. They 

 are chiefly natives of Middle and Southern Europe, North 

 Africa, Northern Asia, and India, generally near the coast. 



Tamarix gallica. A common and beautiful shrub, native 

 of this country, especially of Cornwall, Hampshire, and 

 Kent, to the shores of which counties it is an ornament. Few 

 plants are more widely distributed than this, being found on 

 the coasts of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, in Western 

 Asia, Himalayas, Tartary, and Japan. In Tartary sheep 

 are fed on the tops of the dwarf plants. Its ashes contain a 

 quantity of sulphate of soda. 



Tamarix^ or, as now called, Myricaria germanica^ is a 

 shrub similar to the last, but differing in the flowers having 

 10 stamens. It is common throughout Germany and many 

 other parts of Europe. 



Manna {Tamarix mannifera). A shrub, similar in habit 

 to the preceding, native of Syria and the wilderness of the 

 Israelites about Mount Sinai. The stem is punctured by an 

 insect, when a juice exudes which hardens, and is collected 

 and made into cakes that receive the name of Manna. It 

 consists of a mucilaginous sugar, and forms an article of 



