1304

ARBORETUM AND FRUTJCETUM.

PART III.

Commercial Statistics. Price of plants, in the London nurseries, Is. 6 d.each, and seeds 6s. a quart; at Bollwyller, 2 francs; and at New York ,25 cents.

m 7. L. (B.) Diospy'kus Pers. The Diospyrus-life Laurel, or Bay.

Identification. Pers. Syn., 1. p. 450. ; Bot. Mag., 1.1470.; where Dr. Sims states that Persoon’s epi-thet, Diospyrus, is an abbreviation of Michaux’s one of diospyroides.

Synonymes. L. Euosmus Diospyrus Nutt. Gen., 1. p. 259.; L. diospyroides Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer.,1. p. 243 .; ?L. melissafblia Walt. FL Car., 134. Dr. Sims {Bot. Mag., 1.1470.) states that he hasnot much doubt that the L. melissasfblia Walter is identical with this species j and he . adds thatMr. Fraser, who was the friend of Walter, and editor of his work, always considered it as such,and has remarked that “ the leaves are not at all like those of the balm ; but it was, probably, thescent, not the form, that suggested the appellation.”

Engravings. Bot. Mag., 1.1470.; and oxir fig, 1172.

Spec. Char., fyc. Habit low, surculose, twiggy. Leaves oblong-oval andentire, the under side veiny and pubescent, deciduous. Flower buds andpedicels villous. Sexes' dioecious. Fruit large. {Nutt. Gen., i. p. 259.) Arunning twiggy shrub, 2 ft. or 3 ft. high, in itsnative swamps, in Virginia and Carolina; intro-duced in 1810. Leaves opaque, oblong-oval, at-tenuated towards the base, entire, the under sideveiny and pubescent, deciduous. Scales of thebuds purple, villous. Younger branches villous.

Sexes dioecious. Flower buds and pedicels villous.

Flowers disposed in sessile umbeled groups, 3—5in a group. Perfect stamens 9. Gland-like bodieslarge, orange yellow. Fruit larger than that of 6L. Benzoin, oblong-ovate, scarlet, upon thick anddistinct pedicels Cotyledons large, thick, oily,attached by near their base to the remainder of theembryo. {Nutt. Gen., i. p. 259.) It is what may bedeemed the male sex that is represented in Bot.

Mag., t. 1470., and oury?g. 1172.; and in the text of the Bot. Mag. is thefollowing interesting information by Dr. Sims, on the structure of itsflowers. There were 9 perfect stamens, and an imperfect ovary; and 6glands on short pedicels, resembling so many little yellow mushrooms, witha warty pileus : the anthers had 2 cells each. {Bot. Mag.) L. Pseudo-Den-zoin Michx. is supposed by Dr. Sims (Bot. Mag., 1.1471.) to be eitheridentical with, or a slight variation from, this species. The only plantwhich wp have seen bearing the name of L. Diospyrus is at White Knights,where it so closely resembles L. Benzoin, as to leave no doubt in ourmind that Dr. Sims’s conjecture was right.

* 8. L. {B.) testiva'lis L. The summer Laurel, or Willow-leaved Bay.

Identification. Lin. Sp., 529.; Syst., 384.; Mart. Mill., No. 24.; Willd. Sp. PI., 2. p. 485.

Synonymes. L. enervia Mill. Diet. , No. 8.; L. Euosmus asstivklis Nutt. Gen., 1. p. 259. j Pond bush,Amer. ; Sommer Lorbeer, Ger.

Engraving. Catesb. Car. , 2. t. 28.

Spec. Char., Sgc. Leaves oblong-acuminate, entire, glabrous, veiny, deci-duous. Flowers in umbels. Sexes polygamous. (Nutt. Gen., i. p. 259.)Dr. Sims has noted, incidentally, in the Bot. Mag., t. 1470., that thereare two different specimens of the L. aestivalis in the Banksian herbarium;that one of them, the flowering specimen from Jacquin’s herbarium, isevidently a specimen of the L. geniculata Bot. Mag., t- 1471.; and that theother, in the leaves, is similar to the L. Diospyrus Bot. Mag., t. 1470.Farther, Dr. Sims has noted, t. 1471., that it is not easy to say to whichspecies L. aestivalis really belongs, and that if Linnaeus had meant the cha-racter of supra-axillary branches to describe that the buds are producedbelow the branches, and not in the axils of them, it is as applicable to theallied L. Diospyrus and L. geniculata. (Bot. Mag., t. 1470.) A shrub,about 6 ft. or 8 ft. high, a native of Virginia, in the swamps which inter-sect the pine barrens. Introduced in 1775. There was a plant in theHorticultural Society’s Garden, some years ago, which is since dead.