2056

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

Synonymes, Gal£, Fr. ; Wachs Strauss, Ger.

Derivation. From myrd, to flow; the plants being found on the banks of rivers.

Description, Sfc. Aromatic shrubs; natives of Europe and North America.They are of low growth, and generally require a moist, peaty soil. InBritish gardens, the species are propagated by layers, the stools being plantedin moist peat soil. As the species throw up abundance of suckers, they maybe also propagated by removing them, or by division of the plant. TheAmerican species is sometimes propagated by seeds, which should be sownin autumn, as soon after they are received from America as possible; for, ifkept out of the ground till spring, they will not come up till the spring follow-ing. Plants, in the London nurseries, are from 6 d. to 2s. each; at Boll-wyller, 1 franc 50 cents; and at New York, 37r to 50 cents.

& 1. M. Ga'le L. The Sweet Gale, Sweet Willow, Candleberry Myrtle, or

Dutch Myrtle.

Identification. Lin. Sp. PI., 1453.; Willd. Sp. PL, 4. p. 745.; FI. Br., 1076.: Eng. Bot., t. 562. ;Hook. Scot., 288.; FI. Dan., t. 327.; Ehrh. Pi. Off., 339.; N. Du. Ham., 2. p. 194.; Eng. FL, 4.p. 239.; Hook. Br. FI., p. 432. j Lin'd!. Synop., p. 242.; Mackay FL Hibern., p. 257.: Lodd. Cat.,ed. 1836.

Synonymes. Gdle Raii Syn., 443., Bauh. Hist., 1. p. 2.; £la:fignus Card- Hist., 212., Lob. Ic.,2.p. 116.; Afjrtus brabantica Ger. Emac., p. 1414.; lihfis myrtifolia belgica Bauh. Pin., 414.; It.sylvestris Altera Dalech. Hist., 110.; It. sylvestris Park. Theat., p. 1451.; Afyrica palustris Lam .;Gale, Pimento royal, Fr. ; gemeine Wachs Strauch, Ger.

Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 562.; FI. Dan., t. 327.; Hayne, t. 200.; Lob. Ic., 2. p. 116. f.: N. DuHam., 2. t. 57.; and our fig. 1966.

The Sexes. Both are in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges.

Spec. Char., §c. Leaves lanceolate, serrated ; taperingand entire at the base. Scales of the catkinspointed. (Smith.) A deciduous aromatic shrub,which rises with many stems, from 2 ft. to 4 ft. high;dividing into several slender branches, which arecovered with a ferruginous-coloured bark, sprinkledwith white dots. The leaves are alternate, on shortfootstalks, obovate-lanceolate, tapering and serratedtowards the point. They are rigid, smooth on bothsides, and of a light or yellowish green, palest on theunder side. They are covered with resinous dots,which emit a delightful fragrance when bruised. Ac-

cording to Sir W. J. Hooker, the whole “plantdiffuses an agreeable smell: —

* Gale from the bog shall waft Arabian balm.’

tint. Dior., ed. 2., p. 432.

The catkins are numerous and sessile; they are formed in the courseof the summer’s growth, and remain on during the winter, expandingthe following spring, before the leaves. The flower buds are abovethe leaf buds, at the ends of the branches; whence, as soon as thefructification is completed, the end of the branch dies, the leaf budswhich are on the sides shoot out, and the stems become compound.The scales of the male catkins are of a red shining brown; and thelower ones of the female catkins have a circlet of red hairs towards thetip. The berries are very small, and covered with resinous dots, likethe leaves. Though the male and female flowers are generally producedon different plants, they are sometimes found on the same plant; a fact firstobserved by John Templeton, Esq., of Belfast. (See Smith’s Eng. Flora,iv. p. 239.) The sweet gale is a native of the north and centre ofEurope, of the north of Asia, and of North America, in Pennsylvania andCanada. In Europe, it is found in Lapland, Norway, and Sweden, France,Germany, and the Austrian dominions, as far south as the north of Italy.In Great Britain, it is found from Sutherland and the Grampian Mountains,to Cornwall, as high as 1400ft. above the level of the sea; being morehardy than the hazel. It is a native of Ireland; and there, as every whereelse, it is found almost exclusively in bogs and marshes. The gale wasnoticed by all the older botanists: Ray and Bauhin (in his Historia