324 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLAXTS. 



Stamens 2-8, filaments somewhat united below, beneath a scale-like 

 Iract with a pair of Iractlets. Pistillate Fl. in small ovc id aments. 

 Ovary with 3 scales at its base and 2 thread-like stigmas. Fruit a 

 small globular nut covered w'ith wax-like grains. Leaves deciduous or 

 evergreen, more or less serrate. 



1. M. cerif 'era, L. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, toothed towards the apex 

 or entire, shining and resinous — dotted on both sides ; sterile aments 

 loose, the braots naked ; fruit spherical, distinct. 



Wax-be APvixG Mteica. Bajberrj. "Wax-mjrtle. 



Shriib 3-8 feet high, much branched. Leaves 2-4 inches long and from half an inch to 

 nearly an inch -nide, pubescent underneath. Flaicers appearing before the leaves are fully 

 expanded. Sterile aments about half an inch long. Nats about the size of a pepper-coru 

 encrusted with a whitish dry wax. 



Sandy soil ; along the Sea-coast and Lake Erie. Fl. May. Fr. Aug. - Sept. 



01)s. The foliage of this shrub is, when bruised, pleasantly fragrant. 

 In New England the wax which invests the berries is collected in con- 

 siderable quantities ; it is obtained by boiling the berries in water, 

 when the wax melts and rises to the surface. Under the name of Bay- 

 berry Tallow it is often used, in the rural districts at the east, to make 

 candles either alone or mixed with tallow ; it is also employed in soap- 

 making, and great quantities are consumed for an apparently insignificant 

 use, — the stiflening of the ends of circular or solar lamp wicks. Anoth- 

 er species, the Sweet Gale (M, Gale, L.)^ is also found along the bord- 

 ers of ponds, but it has no important uses. Compto'llia aspleni- 

 fo'lia, Ait., the Sweet Fern — well known for its fern-like foliage and 

 aromatic odor, belongs to this order. An infusion of the leaves is of 

 reputed value in dysentery, and the di-ied leaves afford material for 

 juvenile cigars. * 



Opder LXIX. BETULA'CE^. (Birch Family.) 



Trees or sJiruhs with alternate simple leaves, deciduous stipules and monoecious Jloicers 

 in sca.]y aments ; &rac^s 2-3 flowered ; involucre none; ovary 2-ce\\(id., 2-ovuled, becom- 

 ing a compressed, often winged, dry and indehiscent 1-seeded nut. 



1. BET'ULA, Tourncf. Birch. 



[The ancient Latin name.] 



Staminate aments with the scales peltate, bibracteolate, 3 - flowered. 

 Calyx a scale. Stamens 4; anthers subsessile, oblong, 1-celled. Pis- 

 tillate aments with the scales 3-lobed, imbricated. Calyx, none. 

 Ovaries 3 under each scale. Stigmas 2, filiform. Nut lenticular, sama- 

 roid or winged. Mostly trees with the outer 'baric separable in thin 

 horizontal sheets, that of the small branches dotted. Twigs and leaves 

 often aromatic. 



* BarJc of the trunJc white ; 2>etioles slender : fertile catlins cylindrical^ 



peduncled. 



