505 
house, they will be too tender to bear the sun, until they are by degrees hardened to it, and the 
frosts which frequently happen very late in the spring will greatly pinch them. 
Two or three winters after they are planted out, it will be necessary to lay some mulch on the 
surface of the ground about their roots, also to throw some mats over their heads, especially at the 
beginning of the morning frosts in autumn: but in doing this, the heads of the plant should never 
be too closely covered up, lest the shoots should grow mouldy, which will be as injurious to them 
as the frost. As the plants get strength, they will be better able to endure the cold of our climate; 
though it will be proper to lay some mulch about their roots every winter, and in very severe frost 
to cover their heads and stems. This is best done by erecting an occasional frame of poles, 
whereon the mats may be thrown, which by being at a distance from the plant, will not confine 
it, or bruise the tender shoots; and they may be put aside in the day time towards the sun, or from 
the wind. 
Germs 27. Nyssa, Tupelo. Class XXIII. Polygamia. 
Order II. Dioecia. 
Species 1. Mountain Tvipelo. (Nyssa Ixtegiufolia.) 
The upland Tupelo-Tree or Sour Gum grows naturally in Pennsylvania and perhaps elsewhere, 
rising with a strong upright trunk to the height of thirty or forty feet, and sometimes near two feet 
in diameter; sending off many horizontal, and often depending branches. Leaves obovate, a little 
pointed, entire, of a dark green and shining upper surface, but lighter and a little hairy underneath: 
those of male trees are often narrower and some lance-shaped. The flowers are produced upon 
pretty long common footstalks, arising from the base of the young shoots, and dividing irregularly 
into several parts, generally from six to ten; each supporting a small flower, having a calyx of six or 
seven unequal leaves, and from six to eight awl-shaped spreading stamens, supporting short four- 
lobed anthers. The female trees have fewer flowers produced upon much longer simple cylindrical 
footstalks, thickened at the extremity, and supporting generally three flowers, sitting close and having 
a small involucre. They are composed of five small oval leaves, and in the center an awl-shaped 
incurved style, arising from the oblong germen, which is inferior, and becomes an oval oblong berry, 
of a dark purplish colour when ripe. The timber of this tree is close grained and curled so as not to 
be slit or parted; and therefore much used for hubs of wheels of carriages, &c.* 
It was cultivated in 1750, by Archibald Duke of Argyle.f 
Mr. Miller has the Nyssa aquatica, probably this species, in the two quarto editions of his Dic¬ 
tionary, 1763 , and 177L but not in the two folio editions of 1759 and 1768 . His description is very 
imperfect. He says that it grows naturally in Virginia and several other parts of North America, 
and that it had been of late years introduced into the English gardens, but had made little 
progress. 
Species 2. Water Tupelo . (Nyssa Denticulata.) 
The Virginian Water Tupelo-Tree grows naturally in wet swamps, or near large rivers in Caro¬ 
lina and Florida; and rises with a strong upright trunk to the height of eighty or an hundred feet, 
dividing into many branches towards the top. The leaves are pretty large, of an oval spear-shaped 
6 M 
* Marshall. 
f Hort. Kew. 
