The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 153

11. BHMeRIA, Jacq. FALSE NETTLE.

Flowers moncious or dicious, cl.u.s.tered; the sterile much as in Urtica; the fertile with a tubular or urn-shaped entire or 2--4-toothed calyx enclosing the ovary. Style elongated awl-shaped, stigmatic and papillose down one side. Achene elliptical, closely invested by the dry and persistent compressed calyx.--No stings. (Named after _G. R. Boehmer_, Professor at Wittenberg in the last century.)

1. B. cylindrica, Willd. Perennial, smoothish or p.u.b.escent and more or less scabrous; stem (1--3 high) simple; leaves chiefly opposite (rarely all alternate), ovate to ovate- or oblong-lanceolate, pointed, serrate, 3-nerved; stipules distinct; petioles short or elongated; flowers dicious, or the two kinds intermixed, the small cl.u.s.ters densely aggregated in simple and elongated axillary spikes, the sterile interrupted, the fertile often continuous, frequently leaf-bearing at the apex.--Moist or shady ground, common. Very variable.

12. PARIETaRIA, Tourn. PELLITORY.

Flowers monciously polygamous; the staminate, pistillate, and perfect intermixed in the same involucrate-bracted cymose axillary cl.u.s.ters; the sterile much as in the last; the fertile with a tubular or bell-shaped 4-lobed and nerved calyx, enclosing the ovary and the ovoid achene.

Style slender or none; stigma pencil-tufted.--Homely, diffuse or tufted herbs, not stinging, with alternate entire 3-ribbed leaves, and no stipules. (The ancient Latin name, because growing on old walls.)

1. P. Pennsylvanica, Muhl. Low, annual, simple or sparingly branched, minutely downy; leaves oblong-lanceolate, thin, veiny, roughish with opaque dots; flowers shorter than the involucre; stigma sessile.--Shaded rocky banks, E. Ma.s.s. and Vt. to Minn., and southward. June--Aug.

ORDER 100. PLATANaCEae. (PLANE-TREE FAMILY.)

_Trees, with watery juice, alternate palmately-lobed leaves, sheathing stipules, and moncious flowers in separate and naked spherical heads, dest.i.tute of calyx or corolla; the fruit merely club-shaped 1-seeded nutlets, furnished with a ring of bristly hairs about the base_; consists only of the following genus (of uncertain relationship).

1. PLaTa.n.u.s, L. SYCAMORE. b.u.t.tONWOOD.

Sterile flowers of numerous stamens, with club-shaped little scales intermixed, filaments very short. Fertile flowers in separate catkins, consisting of inversely pyramidal ovaries mixed with little scales.

Style rather lateral, awl-shaped or thread-like, simple. Nutlets coriaceous, small, tawny-hairy below, containing a single orthotropous pendulous seed. Embryo in the axis of thin alb.u.men.--Large trees, with the bark deciduous in broad thin brittle plates; dilated base of the petiole enclosing the bud of the next season. (The ancient name, from p?at??, _broad_.)

1. P. occidentalis, L. Leaves mostly truncate at base, angularly sinuate-lobed or toothed, the short lobes sharp-pointed; fertile heads solitary, hanging on a long peduncle.--Alluvial banks, S. Maine to N.

Vt., Ont., S. E. Minn., E. Kan., and southward. Our largest tree, often 90--130 high, with a trunk 6--14 in diameter.

ORDER 101. JUGLANDaCEae. (WALNUT FAMILY.)

_Trees, with alternate pinnate leaves, and no stipules; flowers moncious, the sterile in catkins (aments) with an irregular calyx adnate to the bract; the fertile solitary or in a small cl.u.s.ter or spike, with a regular 3--5-lobed calyx adherent to the incompletely 2--4-celled but only 1-ovuled ovary. Fruit a kind of dry drupe, with a crustaceous or bony nut-sh.e.l.l, containing a large 4-lobed orthotropous seed._ Alb.u.men none. Cotyledons fleshy and oily, sinuous or corrugated, 2-lobed; radicle short, superior. Petals sometimes present in the fertile flowers.--A small family of important trees, consisting chiefly of the two following genera.

1. JuGLANS, L. WALNUT.

Sterile flowers in long and simple lateral catkins from the wood of the preceding year; the calyx adherent to the entire bracts or scales, unequally 3--6-cleft. Stamens 12--40; filaments free, very short.

Fertile flowers solitary or several together on a peduncle at the end of the branches, with a 4-toothed calyx, bearing 4 small petals at the sinuses. Styles 2, very short; stigmas 2, somewhat club-shaped and fringed. Fruit with a fibrous-fleshy indehiscent epicarp, and a mostly rough irregularly furrowed endocarp or nut-sh.e.l.l.--Trees, with strong-scented or resinous-aromatic bark, few-scaled or almost naked buds (3 or 4 superposed, and the uppermost far above the axil), odd-pinnate leaves of many serrate leaflets, and the embryo sweet and edible. Pith in plates. (Name contracted from _Jovis glans_, the nut of Jupiter.)

1. J. cinerea, L. (b.u.t.tERNUT. WHITE WALNUT.) Leaflets 5--8 pairs, oblong-lanceolate, pointed, rounded at base, downy, especially beneath, the _petioles and branchlets downy with clammy hairs; fruit oblong, clammy_, pointed, the nut deeply sculptured and rough with ragged ridges, 2-celled at the base.--Rich woods, N. Eng. to the mountains of Ga., west to Minn., E. Kan., and Ark. Tree 50--75 high, with gray bark, widely spreading branches, and lighter brown wood than in the next.

2. J. ngra, L. (BLACK WALNUT.) Leaflets 7--11 pairs, ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, somewhat heart-shaped or unequal at base, smooth above, the lower surface and the _petioles minutely downy; fruit spherical_, roughly dotted, the nut corrugated, 4-celled at top and bottom.--Rich woods, W. Ma.s.s. and Conn. to Fla., west to Minn., E. Neb., E. Kan., and southward. A large and handsome tree (often 90--150 high), with rough brown bark, and valuable purplish-brown wood turning blackish with age.

2. CaRYA, Nutt. HICKORY.

Sterile flowers in slender lateral and cl.u.s.tered catkins; calyx naked, adherent to the bract, unequally 2--3-parted. Stamens 3--10; filaments short or none, free. Fertile flowers 2--5 in a cl.u.s.ter or short spike, on a peduncle terminating the shoot of the season; calyx 4-toothed; petals none. Stigmas sessile, 2 or 4, large, papillose, persistent.

Fruit with a 4-valved, firm and at length dry exocarp (involucre), falling away from the smooth and crustaceous or bony endocarp or nut-sh.e.l.l, which is incompletely 2-celled, and at the base mostly 4-celled.--Fine timber-trees, with hard and very tough wood, and scaly buds, from which in spring are put forth usually both kinds of flowers, the sterile below and the fertile above the leaves. Nuts ripen and fall in October. (?a??a, an ancient name of the Walnut.)

-- 1. _Sterile catkins fascicled (no common peduncle or sometimes a very short one) from separate lateral scaly buds near the summit of shoots of the preceding year; bud-scales few; fruit elongated-oblong; the thin-sh.e.l.led nut 2-celled below; seed sweet; leaflets short-stalked, numerous._

1. C. olivaeformis, Nutt. (PECAN-NUT.) Minutely downy, becoming nearly smooth; leaflets 13--15, oblong-lanceolate, tapering gradually to a slender point, falcate, serrate; nut olive-shaped.--River bottoms, S.

Ind., S. Ill., and Iowa, to La. and Tex. A large tree (90--160 high), with delicious nuts.

-- 2. _Sterile catkins in threes (rarely more) on a common peduncle from the axil of the inner scales of the common bud, therefore at the base of the shoot of the season, which, then bearing 3 or 4 leaves, is terminated by the fertile flowers; fruit globular or oval; nut 4-celled at base; leaflets sessile or nearly so._

[*] _Bud-scales numerous, about 10, successively enwrapping, the inner ones accrescent, becoming thin and membranaceous and rather tardily deciduous; husk of the fruit splitting promptly into 4 more or less thick and when dry hard or woody valves; seed sweet and delicious._ (The _hickory nuts_ of the market.)

2. C. alba, Nutt. (Sh.e.l.l-BARK or s.h.a.g-BARK HICKORY.) Bark of trunk s.h.a.ggy, exfoliating in rough strips or plates; inner bud-scales becoming large and conspicuous, persistent till the flowers are fully developed; _leaflets 5--7_, when young minutely downy beneath, finely serrate, the three upper obovate-lanceolate, the _lower pair much smaller_ and oblong-lanceolate, all taper-pointed; fruit globular or depressed; _nut white_, flattish-globular, barely mucronate, the sh.e.l.l thinnish.--N. Eng. to N. sh.o.r.e of L. Erie and S. E. Minn., south to Fla., E. Kan., and Tex. Large and handsome tree (70--90 high, or more), of great economic value. The princ.i.p.al hickory-nut of the markets.

3. C. sulcata, Nutt. (BIG Sh.e.l.l-BARK. KING-NUT.) Bark, etc., as in n. 1; _leaflets 7--9_, more downy beneath; _fruit oval or ovate_, 4-ribbed above the middle, the husk very thick; _nut large_ (1--2' long) and usually angular, _dull white or yellowish, thick-walled, usually strongly pointed at both ends_.--Central N. Y. and Penn. to S. Ind., E. Kan., and Ind. Terr. Tree 70--90 high, or more, in rich soil of bottom lands.

4. C. tomentsa, Nutt. (MOCKER-NUT. WHITE-HEART HICKORY.) _Bark close_, rough, but not s.h.a.ggy and exfoliating on old trunks; catkins, shoots, and lower surface of the leaves _tomentose_ when young, resinous scented; _leaflets_ 7--9, lance-obovate or the lower oblong-lanceolate, pointed; _fruit globular or ovoid_, with a very thick and hard husk; _nut globular, not compressed, 4-ridged toward the slightly pointed summit, brownish_, very thick-sh.e.l.led, 1' in diameter or smaller.--N.

Eng. to N. sh.o.r.e of L. Erie, E. Neb., and south to the Gulf. Tree 70--100 high, usually on rich upland hillsides.

5. C. microcarpa, Nutt. With rough close bark, small ovate buds, and the glabrous foliage, etc., of n. 6; fruit small, subglobose, with rather thin husk; nut thin-sh.e.l.led, not angled.--N. Y. to Del., west to Mich.

and Ill.

[*][*] _Bud-scales numerous or few; husk of the fruit thin and rather friable at maturity, 4-valved only to the middle or tardily to near the base; seed more or less bitter; bark of old trunk not exfoliating._

6. C. porcna, Nutt. (PIG-NUT or BROOM H.) Bud-scales nearly as in n. 4, but smaller, caducous; shoots, catkins, and leaves _glabrous_ or nearly so; _leaflets_ 5--7, oblong- or obovate-lanceolate and taper-pointed, serrate; fruit pear-shaped, oblong, or oval; _nut oblong or oval_ (1--2' long), with a _thick bony sh.e.l.l_; the oily seed at first sweet in taste, then bitterish.--S. Maine to Fla., west to Minn., E. Neb., and Tex. Tree 70--90 high (rarely 120), on dry hills and uplands.

7. C. amara, Nutt. (BITTER-NUT or SWAMP H.) Scales of the small yellowish buds about 6, valvate in pairs, caducous in leafing; catkins and young herbage more or less p.u.b.escent, soon becoming almost glabrous; _leaflets_ 7--11, _lanceolate_ or oblong-lanceolate; fruit globular, narrowly 6-ridged; _nut globular, short-pointed_, white (barely 1'

long), _thin-walled_; seed at first sweet-tasted, soon extremely bitter.--Moist soil, N. Eng. to Fla., west to Minn., E. Neb., and Tex.

Tree 50--75 high; husk and nut-sh.e.l.l thinner and less hard than in other species.

ORDER 102. MYRICaCEae. (SWEET-GALE FAMILY.)

_Moncious or dicious shrubs, with both kinds of flowers in short scaly catkins, and resinous-dotted often fragrant leaves_,--differing from the Birches chiefly in the 1-celled ovary with a single erect orthotropous ovule, and the drupe-like nut. Involucre and perianth none.

1. MYRCA, L. BAYBERRY. WAX-MYRTLE.

The only genus.--Flowers solitary under a scale-like bract and with a pair of bractlets, the sterile in oblong or cylindrical, the fertile in ovoid or globular catkins, from axillary scaly buds; stamens 2--8; filaments somewhat united below; anthers 2-celled. Ovary with 2--8 scales at its base, and 2 thread-like stigmas. Fruit a small globular or oblong nut, or dry drupe, coated with resinous grains or wax. (??????, the ancient name of the Tamarisk or some other shrub; perhaps from ?????, _to perfume_.)

[*] _Mostly dicious; fertile catkins ovoid; ovary with 2--4 scales at base; nut globular; leaves entire or somewhat serrate._

1. M. Gale, L. (SWEET GALE.) Shrub 3--5 high; _leaves wedge-lanceolate_, serrate toward the apex, _pale, later than the flowers; sterile catkins closely cl.u.s.tered_; nuts in imbricated heads, 2-winged by the two thick ovate scales which coalesce with its base.--Wet borders of ponds, Newf. to N. Eng. and along the Great Lakes to Minn., south in the mountains to Va.

2. M. cerifera, L. (BAYBERRY. WAX-MYRTLE.) _Leaves oblong-lanceolate_, narrowed at the base, entire or wavy-toothed toward the apex, _shining and resinous-dotted both sides, somewhat preceding the flowers, fragrant; sterile catkins scattered_, oblong; scales wedge-shaped at the base; nuts scattered and naked, bony, and incrusted with white wax.--Sandy soil near the coast, from Nova Scotia to Fla. and Ala.; also on L. Erie. Shrub 3--8 high, but sometimes a tree 35 high; fruit sometimes persistent for 2 or 3 years.

[*][*] _Frequently moncious; fertile catkins globular; ovary surrounded by 8 long linear-awl-shaped persistent scales; nut ovoid-oblong; leaves pinnatifid with many rounded lobes._

3. M. aspleniflia, Endl. Shrub 1--2 high, with sweet scented fern-like linear-lanceolate leaves; stipules half heart-shaped; scales of the sterile catkins kidney-heart-shaped, pointed. (Comptonia asplenifolia, _Ait._)--Sterile hills, N. Eng. to N. C., west to Minn. and Ind.

ORDER 103. CUPULFERae. (OAK FAMILY.)

_Moncious trees or shrubs, with alternate simple straight-veined leaves, deciduous stipules, the sterile flowers in catkins (or capitate-cl.u.s.tered in the_ Beech), _the fertile solitary, cl.u.s.tered, spiked, or in scaly catkins, the 1-celled and 1-seeded nut with or without an involucre._ Ovary more or less 2--7-celled, with 1 or 2 pendulous anatropous ovules in each cell; but all the cells and ovules except one disappearing in the fruit. Seed with no alb.u.men, filled with the embryo.