DESCRIPTION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
85 
and persistent, or small, ovoid and deciduous; fruiting 
aments 1J— 3' long, more or less dense; capsules ovate-con- 
ical, shortly pedicelled. Common along creeks and rivers. 
The var. Wardi Bebb at Nashville. The bark. 
Populus balsamifera, L. var. candicans, Gray. Balm of Gilead. 
Tree 30-50° high, the large buds varnished with a copious 
fragrant resin ; leaves ovate-lanceolate, more or less heart- 
shaped, gradually tapering and pointed, finely crenate, smooth 
on both sides, whitish and reticulately veined beneath, on 
terete, hairy petioles. Stamens 20-30; styles 2-4 with di- 
lated lobes, capsule ovate, 2-valved. Common in cultivation 
and utilized in domestic practice in preparation of an oint- 
ment. The buds are collected. 
Subclass II. GYMNOSPERMiE. 
CONIFERiE. (Pine Family.) 
Pinus Taeda, L. Loblolly or Old-field Pine. A tree 50- 
150° high ; leaves 6-10' long, in two’s or three’s in the elon- 
gated sheets, light green. Sterile flower involucrate by a 
number of scales, consisting of numerous stamens spirally 
inserted on the axis, with very short filaments and a scale- 
like connective ; anther-cells 2, opening lengthwise. Pollen of 
3 united cells. Fertile catkins solitary or aggregated imme- 
diately below the terminal bud, or lateral on the young shoot, 
consisting of imbricated carpellary scales, each in the axil 
of a persistent bract, bearing a pair of inverted ovules at 
the base. Fruit a cone formed of the imbricated woody 
capillary scales, which are thickened at the apex, persistent, 
spreading when rij>e and dry; the 2 nut-like seeds partly 
sunk in excavations at the base of the scale, in separating 
carrying away a part of its lining as a thin fragile wing. 
Cones elongated-oblong, 3-5' long and tapering; scales tipped 
with a stout, incurved spine. The bark is utilized. The 
exuding resin, turpentine, is used by itself or yields the oil 
or spirits of turpentine by distillation, Common in sandy 
soil, especially in the southeastern part of the State. 
