CHAP. XCVI.

SANT ALA CEAE.

J315

Description, $c. A low deciduous shrub with the habit of a miniature tree,a native of Virginia, where it grows about 5 ft. or 6 ft. high, producing itsyellow flowers in March and April. It was in-troduced in 1750, and is common in collectionof peat-earth shrubs. It has a branchy andfastigiate habit, and has a tumidity at the baseof each branch on the under side. The bark isbrown and glabrous. Linnaeus has remarkedthat the wood and bark are so tough, that it isscarcely possible to divide the substance of eitherwithout a knife, and this quality has obtainedfor the plant the English name of leather-wood.

The leaves are lanceolate, oblong, alternate, ofa pale green, villous beneath, and deciduous.

The flowers are produced while the plant isleafless, and, in England, they are seldom, if ever,followed by seeds. The bud of the shoot of thesame year is enclosed in the bud of the inflo-rescence. The young plants are very liable tobe eaten by snails. (Sot. Reg.) Though quitea tree in its habit of growth, it is rarely seen inEngland above 3 ft. high. In Canada , the twigsare used for rods, and the bark for ropes, baskets,

&c., for which it is very suitable, being equal instrength and toughness to the bark of the limetree. In British gardens, D. palustris is propa-gated by layers, which require two years to root properly. The soil in whichthe plant grows best is peat kept moist. Price of plants, in the London nurseries, 5s. each; at Bollwyller, 3 francs; and at New York , 25 cents.

App. I. Half-hardy ligneous Plants belonging to the OrderThymelaceee.

G nidia iiribricata L.; G. denud&ta Bot. Reg., t. 757.; has grey villous leaves, and pale yellowflowers. There were plants of this species in lCnight’s Exotic Nursery, King’s Hoad, Chelsea, in1830, one of which was upwards of 4 ft. high.

Passer\nafilifdrmis L. is a plant well known in old collections. It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope , which was introduced in 1752; and in a conservatory it will grow to the height of 8 ft.It has slender, twiggy, spreading brandies, which have the leaves imbricated along their terminalparts in 4 rows. It bears its white flowers plentifully on the terminal parts of the branches. Nearlyall the species of Passerina are low shrubs, natives of the Cape of Good Hope , which might probablystand out against a conservative wall.

Ptmelea drupacea Lab., Bot. Cab., t. 540., the cherry-fruited pimelea, is tolerably hardy. It isiJ 1 ® ver 8 re e n shrub, about 2 ft. high, a native of New Holland, which was introduced in 1817.Its flowers, which are white, are produced in May, and they are succeeded by a berry-like sessilewhich is quite black when ripe, and has a striking appearance on the plant when produced

CHAP. XCVI.

OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER SANTAL ACCESS.

The only hardy genus is Nyssa L., to which the following character be-longs :_

^y'ss^( L. Flowers bisexual and male : the two kinds upon distinct plants,and without petals.—Bisexual flower. Calyx connate, with the ovary in itslower part; it has a free 5-parted limb. Stamens 5. Ovary ovate, containing1 pendulous ovule (2 in some instances, Nuttall). Style simple, revolute(curved inwards, Rees’s Cyclop.). Stigma acute. Fruit a roundish drupe :nut elliptical, acute, angular, somewhat irregular, grooved iengthwise,contain-

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