286 



WEEDS AXD USEFUL PLAXTS. 



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

 diameter, branching. — ^the young branches yelloi^ish and pubescent. Leaves 3-5 :::Lh' s 

 long, and 2-4 inches wide, — silicy-pubescent when young, finally smooth ; jv-lioles hall l-.jl 

 inch to an inch long. Flowers from the same buds, 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. 



Ohs. The l3ark of this vrell-known small tree is a powerful, ret pleas- 

 ant, aromatic stimulant, and possesses ralnable medicinal properties ; 

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

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

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

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

 MiCHAUx's Sylva. that bed steads made of the wood " are never infested 

 with insect; : "■ which circumstance — to adopt the language of the 

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



2. BEXZO'LN', Nees. Fever-bush. 



[A name said to be derived from the Arabic, — expressive of peifume.'i 



Flowers polygamo-dioecious. Sepals 6, connected at base. Stam. Fl. 

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

 gland-bearing at the base ; anthers 2-celled. Pistillate Fl., with 

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

 oval ; peduncle not clavate. Shrubs with jeUow fowers in small lateral 

 fascicles (which are surrounded by a deciduous involucre), appearing be- 

 fore the leaves. 



1, B. odorif'emin, ^^ees. Leaves obovate-oblong. mostly acute, oft^n 



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



Odoeiferous BExzoI^^ Spice-wood. Wild Allspice. Fever-bush. 



.Sfe7?i 6 - S or 10 feet high ; branches virgate, brittle. Xearcs 2-4 inches long, mostly 

 acut-e or with a short acumination (sometimes obtuse and rounded at apes) ; petioles 

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

 1 - 2 lines long ; flower-buds distinct from the leaf-buds, — usually a flower-bud on each 

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



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

 September. 



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

 sicians 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. LORAXTHA'CE^. (Mistletoe Family.) 



Shrubby plants pararf/ic on trees, having mostly opposite entire thick have? without stipules 

 and monoecious or dioecious, ??/)ii'ers in short catkin- like jointed spikes. Calyx-tube (of the 

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

 as the calyx-lobes. Fruit a 1-seeded berry. Embryo small in mucilaginous albumen. 

 Chiefly tropica! plants. The Mistletoe of Europe is Viscnm album. 



