128 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



to 20 feet high, in some cases stated at 30 feet, and has much the ap- 

 pearance of the common yew of Europe. The leaves have the same 

 general form and arrangement as those of tire Torreya, but are shorter, 

 narrower, and not so closely set on the twigs. 



The flowers are likewise of the dioecious character and similar in 

 structure, but the fruit is different, " consisting of a single ovule on a 

 cup-shaped disk, which becomes large and berry-like iu fruit and sur- 

 rounds the nut-like seed." Plate V. 



Nyssa capitata — Ogechee Lime; Sour Tupelo. 



A small tree, 20 to 30 feet in height, growing from the Ogechee 

 River, Georgia, south to Florida and west to Louisiana. Its usual 

 situation is in swamps or on the rich banks of streams. The wood is 

 soft and light and of no value. The leaves are 4 to 6 inches long, of an 

 oblong or obovate form, narrowed at the base, entire, smooth, and green 

 above, whitish and velvety pubescent below, on petioles less than an 

 inch long, and irregularly placed on the branches. The male aud fe- 

 male Mowers are on separate trees, and appear at the base of the season's 

 shoots ; the male flowers in dense round clusters, and the female flowers 

 singly on short peduncles. The male flowers have a 5-partcd calyx 

 and from 5 to 10 stamens ; the female flowers have besides stamens a 

 long style, and an ovary which ripens into an oblong red drupe from 

 an inch to an inch and a half in length, with a thickish skin, an in- 

 tensely acid pulp, and an oblong deeply channeled stone. 



This fruit makes an agreeable conserve and substitute for limes. 

 Plate VL 



Juniperus Virgin ian A var. Floridana— Florida Bed Cedar. 



A variety of red cedar (Juniperus Virginiana) occurs on the rocky 

 coast and keys of Florida, which furnishes a very soft wood, free from 

 knots, and on that account used by the manufacturers of lead pencils, 

 who send to Florida annually expressly for a supply of this wood. We 

 present a figure of a twig. Plate VII. 



Pinckneya pubens— Georgia Bark. 



This is a low tree growing from 15 to 25 feet high, with a diameter of 

 trunk of 5 to 6 inches. It grows in clumps, a number of stems spring- 

 ing apparently from the same root. The young twigs and the petioles 

 of the leaves are softly hairy. The leaves are opposite, and at their 

 base furnished with small scales or stipules, which very easily fall away. 

 They are 4 or 5 inches long, and 2 or even 3 inches broad, of an oblong 

 form, pointed at the apex and base and supported on petioles or leaf 

 stalks about 1 inch long. The upper surface is smoothish, the lower one 

 is pubescent. The flowers are borne in clusters or corymbs at the ends 

 of the twigs. These clusters are quite showy, not from the colors of the 

 proper flowers, but from the presence of a number of leaf-like pinkish 

 bracts of an ovate form and H or 2 inches long. In some cases these bracts 

 are developed from an expansion of the lobes of the calyx. The flowers 

 are somewhat close in the cluster, about an inch and a half long. The 

 calyx is small, with five narrow lanceolate lobes or teeth, which are only 

 one third or one-fourth the length of the corolla. This is tubular and 

 hairy externally. Near the summit it is divided into five linear oblong 

 lobes which expand and roll backward, and are spotted with red. Aris- 



