268 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III, 



an agreeable odour. The spike of fruits is an inch pr more in length, conical, 

 an inch in diameter in the widest part, and of a reddish brown colour when ripe. 

 This tree begins to flower, in the United States, in May, June, and July ; when 

 the perfume of the flowers may be perceived at a considerable distance, A 

 few of these flowers, shut up in a room overnight, communicate to the air a heavy 

 and almost insupportable odour. (Bigelow's Med. Bot,, vol. ii. p. 68.) When 

 the plant is in a soil supplied with moisture during the summer, it continues 

 to produce flowers till the autumn, and retains part of its leaves all the winter : 

 in dry situations the leaves drop off. Seeds are frequently ripened in Eng- 

 land : they are of a bright scarlet, and they hang down by slender white 

 threads, as in all the other American species. The young shoots are from I ft. 

 to 18 in. in length, and the plant, in ordinary circumstances, will attain the 

 height of 12 ft. in ten years : when full-grown, it is seldom, either in its native 

 country or in England, more than 18 ft. or 20 ft. high; which height in Eng- 

 land it arrives at in twenty years. 



Gcographj/. Found in low situations near the sea in North America, from 

 Massachusetts to Louisiana; more especially in New Jersey and Carohna, 

 where it seldom grows to above 12 ft. high, 'it has the most extensive range, 

 especially near the sea, of any of the genus. Its most northern boundary 

 appears to be in a sheltered swamp in Manchester, Cape Ann, about thirty 

 miles north of Boston. It here attains to but small size, and is frequently 

 killed to the ground by severe winters. It is common in the middle and 

 southern states ; and Michaux informs us that it is one of the most abundant 

 trees in the morasses of Florida and Lower Louisiana. According to this 

 author, however, it is not usually met with far in the intei-ior, or to the west 

 of the mountains. Its common names are various, and change with almost 

 every district. It is naturally a tenant of deep boggy swamps, and is some- 

 what irregular in its growth. It acquires more symmetry of form when cul- 

 tivated in an upland soil, although its transplantation is difficult. To insure 

 its successful cultivation in a dry soil, the tree should be raised from the seed, 

 (Bige/oiu's Med. Bot., vol. ii. p.' 68.) 



History. This species was introduced into England by Banister, who sent 

 it to Bishop Compton, at Fulham, in 1688. It was soon afterwards generally 

 propagated by American seeds, and became known throughout Europe many 

 years before any of the other species. 



Soil and Situation. The soil ought to be a deep sand, or a sandy peat, kept 

 moist, more especially in summer. The situation should be sheltered and 

 shaded by larger trees, but not overtopped by them. 



Properties and Uses. The bark is aromatic and pungent, apparently more so 

 than that of most of the other species. When distilled, it has a peculiar flavour, 

 and an empyreumatic smell. In a dry state it affords a little resin. The aroma is 

 volatile, and probably an essential oil or variety of camphor. The bark, seeds, 

 and canes, are employed in tincture, with very good success, in chronic rheuma- 

 tism. The inhabitants of the marshy countries of America have used the bark, 

 like that of the cinchona, in the case of intermittent and remittent fevers. The 

 inhabitants of the countries where the plant is indigenous cure coughs and 

 other pectoral diseases by putting the fruit into brandy, and administering 

 the decoction every morning. The wood is employed for making joiners' 

 planes. The flowers, in a dried state, may be used in drawingrooms for pot 

 pourri, as a substitute for those of the lily of the valley. In Europe, the plant 

 can only be considered as ornamental. 



Propagation and Cidture. Plants are generally originated from seeds im- 

 ported from America ; but M. glauca ThorapsomVOTo:, and the other varieties, 

 are propagated by layers, which require two years to root propei-ly ; or by 

 inarching. The seeds should be sown in pots of bog earth about the begin- 

 ning of March, and placed in gentle heat under glass. In a year they will be 

 fit to transplant into small pots; and every year they should be shifted into 

 others of a larger size, till wanted for final planting out. 



