2SQ 



WEEDS AXD USEFUL PLxiNTS. 



Stem 15-40 or 50 feet high, and 6-12 inches (in some rare instances, near 2 feet) in 

 diameter, branching, — the young branches yellowish and pubescent. Leaves 3-5 inches 

 long, and 2-4 inches wide, — silky-pubescent when young, finally smooth ; petioles half an 

 inch to an inch long. Flowers from the same bads, and contemporaneous with the leaves. 

 Sepals oblong, rather obtuse, pale, greenish-yellow. Berries ovoid-oblong. 



Woodlands ; fence-rows and old fields : Canada to Florida. Fl. April. Fr. September. 



Obs. The bark of this well-kuown small tree is a powerful, yet pleas- 

 ant, aromatic stimulant, and possesses valuable medicinal properties ; 

 which acquired for it, at an early day, in Europe, an exaggerated repu- 

 tation. An infusion of the roots, or bark of the roots, makes an excel- 

 lent diet drink. The pith of the young branches contains much mucilage, 

 and is used to make a wash for inflamed eyes. We learn, also, from 

 MiCHAUx's Sijlva, that bed steads made of the wood " are never infested 

 with insects ; " which circumstance — to adopt the language of the 

 Gazettes — is certainly " important, if true,"— and well worthy of notice. 



2. BENZOIN, Nees. Fever-bush. 



[A name said to be derived from the Arabic, — expressive of perfume.] 



F'oicers polygamo-dicecious. Sepals 6, connected at base. Staji. Fl, 

 Stamens 9, in three series, — the innermost lobed at the summit, and 

 gland-bearing at the base ; anthers 2-celIed. Pistillate Fl., w^ith 

 15 - 18 alternating filiform and spatulate rudiments of stamens. Drupe 

 oval ; peduncle not clavate. Shrubs with yQ\\o\Y flowers in small lateral 

 fascicles (v/hich are surrounded by a deciduous involucre), appearing be- 

 fore the leaves. 



1. B. odorif'emm, Nees. Loaves ob ovate-oblong, mostly acute, often 



cuneate at base ; drupe red, or finally dark purple. 



Odoriferous Benzoij^. Spice-wood. Wild Allspice. Fever-bush. 



(Jfem 6 - 8 or 10 feet high ; branches virgate, brittle. Leaves 2-4 inches long, mostly 

 acute or with a short acumination (sometimes obtuse and rounded at apex) ; pdioUs 

 about half an inch long. Flowers in involucrate clusters of 3-5 from a bud, on pedicels 

 I - 2 lines long ; flower-buds distinct from the leaf-buds, — usuallj^ a fiower-bud on each 

 side of the leaf-bud. Sepals greenish-yellow, obovate-oblong, obtuse. 



Moist rich low grounds ; borders of thickets, &c. Canada to Florida. Fl. April. Fr. 

 September. 



Obs. This is a strongly aromatic shrub. In early times — before Phy 

 eicians were so numerous— an infusion of the brittle spicy twigs was 

 much used as a popular remedy, and even as a preventive, of the fevers 

 which attacked the first settlers ; but it is now chiefly prescribed as a 

 diet-drink for sickly cows, in the spring of the year. 



Order LXII. LORANTIIA'CE^E. (xMistletoe Family.) 



Shrubby plants parasitic on trees, having mostly opposite entire thick leaves without stipiiJes 

 and monoecious or dioecious. /lowers in short catkin-like jointed spikes. Calyx-tube (of the 

 fertile flowers) adherent to the ovary ; border obsolete or 3- 4-toothed. Stamens as many 

 as the calyx-lobes. Fruit a 1-soedcd berry. Embn/o small in mucilaginous albumeii 

 Chiefly tropical plants. T!i3 Mistletoe of Europe is Viscum album. 



