324 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



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

 bract with a pair of bradlets. Pistillate Fl. in small ovoid aments, 

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

 small globular nut covered with wax-like grains. Leaves deciduous or 

 evergreen, more or less serrate. 



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

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

 loose, the bracts naked ; fruit spherical, distinct. 

 Wax-bearing Myrica. Bayberry. Wax-myrtle. 



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

 nearly an inch wide, pubescent underneath. Flowers appearing before the leaves are 

 fully expanded. Sterile aments about >^ an inch long. Kuts about the size of a pepper-corn 

 encrusted with a whitish dry wax. 



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



0^5. 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 

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

 making, and great quantities are consumed for an apparently insignificant 

 use, — the stiffening of the ends of circular or solar lamp wicks. An- 

 other species, the Sweet Gale (M. Gale, L.), is also found along the 

 borders of ponds, but is 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 dried leaves afford material for 

 juvenile cigars. 



Order LXIX. BETTJLA'CE^. (Birch Family.) 



T)'ees or shrubs with alternate simple leaves, deciduous stipules and monoecious flowers in 

 scsily aineii^ ; bracts 2-o-flowered; involucre none; ovary 2-celled, 2-omlecZ, becoming a 

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



1. BET'ULA, Tournef. Birch. 



[Tlie ancient Latin name.] 



Staminate amexts witZi 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 ti-ees with the outer bark separable in thin 

 hori2;ontal sheets, that of the smaU branches dotted. Twigs and leaves 

 often aromatic. 



* Bark of the trunk white : petioles slender: fertile catkins cylindrical, 

 peduncled. 



