XLI. — THE BOG MYRTLE. 
Myrica Gale Linne. 
A CCORDING to Engler’s system of classification, Dicotyledons form two great 
scries Archichlumyde (from the Greek dp^i, archi, primitive ; y\<x pfis, chlamus , 
a cloak) and Sympetal<e. Both agree, of course, in the characters distinctive of all 
Dicotyledons, such as the two cotyledons, the ring of “ open ” vascular bundles in 
the stem, giving rise to a cambium, and, in perennials, to annual rings of wood, the 
complex net-veining of the leaves, and the predominance of five, four, or two in the 
number of leaves in the floral whorls. 
The Archichlamydea have either (i) no perianth, (ii) a simple perianth of one 
whorl which may be either sepaloid or petaloid, (iii) a perianth of two whorls, of 
which at least the inner has its leaves disunited, (iv) a perianth in a few cases with 
the inner whorl gamophyllous, but closely related to polypetalous forms, or (v) a 
perianth of one whorl by the suppression of an inner whorl. Of thirty-two Orders 
of Dicotyledons, the “ Cohorts ” of some earlier systematists, twenty-three belong to 
the Archichlamyde<e. Of these, three only, the Piperales , Proteales , and Opuntiales , are 
without British representatives. 
The consecutive grouping of the Orders in a single linear series is inevitably to 
some extent arbitrary, and it is extremely difficult to fix upon the most satisfactory 
succession. Taking the Piperales as the first, Engler considers the Juglandales as 
the second, a group characterised by exstipulate leaves, unisexual flowers, a one- 
chambered ovary, one ovule, generally erect, and a drupaceous fruit. 
The genus Myrica constitutes almost the whole of a small Family ( Myricace# ) of 
somewhat uncertain affinities. A monotypic American genus, Comptonia , is the only 
other member of the Family. On the whole, it seems most nearly related to Juglandace<e , 
the Walnut Family, with which it agrees in having a woody stem, scattered aromatic 
leaves, diclinous flowers, the staminate ones in catkins, a one-chambered, one-ovuled 
ovary, an erect ovule, a drupaceous fruit, and an exalbuminous seed. The main 
differences are that in Myrica the leaves are simple, the ovary is superior, and there 
is no trace of a perianth, whilst Walnuts have compound leaves and a perianth 
adherent to the consequently inferior ovary. 
Myrica has been described in a fossil state from rocks of Cretaceous and of 
Tertiary age, and, though there are only about forty existing species, their world-wide 
distribution agrees with this indication that they are among the most primitive of 
Angiosperms. 
Most of the species are shrubs, like our British representative of the group, but 
some of them grow into small trees. The bark contains resin, tannin, and benzoic 
acid, which give it astringent tonic properties, and, perhaps, account for the name 
“ Wild Sumac ” which we find applied to Myrica Gale in Henry Lyte’s translation of 
