COMANDRA. 



SANTALACE^E. 



161 



fl. 1. p. 272; Beck, bot. p. 308; Barlingt.fi,. Cest. p. 163. T. corymbulosum, Michx. 

 fl. 1. p. 112. 



Root (or rhizoma) horizontal, somewhat woody. Stem terete, slender, about one foot high, 

 branching at the summit. Leaves an inch or more in length, sessile, somewhat glaucous. 

 Cymes few-flowered, rather numerous, and forming a terminal panicle. Flowers on short 

 pedicels, which are bracteate at the base. Calyx-tube green, with white acute segments ; the 

 lining disk fleshy, with five obtuse gland-like teeth. Stamens shorter than the calyx : filaments 

 subulate : anthers 2-lobed, with a tuft of yellow hairs on the back, by which they are attached 

 to the calyx-lobes. Ovary adhering to the lower part of the calyx : ovules 3, anatropous, 

 suspended from the apex of a free tortuous placenta arising from the base of the cell : style 

 equalling the stamens. Fruit somewhat turbinate, brittle, containing a single roundish seed. 



Dry rocky hill-sides, and in woods ; frequent. Fl. June - July. Fr. September. 



2. NYSSA. Gronov. ; Juss. in diet. sc. nat. ; Endl. gen. 2086. GUM-TREE. 



[Origin of the name obscure.] 



Flowers polygamo-dioecious. Sterile fl. Tube of the calyx short; the limb 5-parted, 

 deciduous. Stamens 9 - 10 (5 - 12, Barlington), inserted on the outside of a large convex 

 disk : filaments subulate : anthers roundish, 2-lobed. No trace of an ovary. Perfect fl. 

 Tube of the calyx coherent with the ovary ; the limb 4 - 5-parted, deciduous. Stamens 

 5, inserted on the outside of a flattish disk : filaments subulate : anthers fertile. Ovary 

 oblong, with a single ovule suspended from the summit of the cell. Drupe 1 -seeded ; the 

 endocarp bony, oval, striate. — Trees, with alternate entire leaves, and flowers in pedunculate 

 clusters or solitary. 



This genus has been made a separate order by the elder Jussieu (1. c.) ; and Mr. Brown long ago (Prodr. p. 351) 

 remarked that it hardly belonged to Santalace.e. It differs chiefly in its single ovule, which is attached to the 

 summit of the cell, and not to a free placenta. I have concluded, however, at least for the present, to retain it in 



SaNTALACE.E. 



1. Nyssa multiflora, Wang. (Plate XCV.) Sour Gum. Black Gum. 



Leaves oval and obovate, acute at each end and often acuminate, very entire ; the petiole, 

 midrib and margin villous ; fertile peduncles mostly 3-flowered ; nut oval. — Wang. Amer. 

 p. 46. t. 16. /. 39 ; Walt. fl. Car. p. 253 ; Ell sk. 2. p. 684 ; Beck, bot. p. 307 ; Barlingt. 

 fl. Cest. p. 164. N. sylvatica, Marsh, arbust. p. 97; Michx. sylv. 2. t. 110. N. villosa, 

 Willd. sp. 4. p. 1112 ; Michx. fl. 2. p. 258 ; Pursh, fl. I. p. 177 ; Loud. enc. trees shr. 

 p. 694. t. 1356, 1357. 



A tree 25 -40 feet high, with a trunk 6-12 inches or more in diameter; the wood 

 remarkably tough, on account of the interlacing of the fibres. Leaves 2-4 inches long and 

 1^ - 2\ inches in diameter, mostly clustered at the extremity of the branchlets, variable in 

 form, but mostly obovate with a short acumination, sometimes obovate -lanceolate ; when 

 [Flora — Vol. 2.] 21 



