Part 87

Leaves 6′—8′ long, with a slender pubescent petiole and rachis more or less broadly wing-margined between the leaflets, the wings increasing in width toward the apex of the leaf, and 9—21 oblong or ovate-lanceolate leaflets entire or remotely serrate above the middle, sharp-pointed or rarely emarginate at apex, acute or obtuse and often unequal at base, those of the lower pairs short-petiolulate and smaller than those above the middle of the leaf, the others sessile with the exception of the terminal leaflet sometimes contracted into a long winged stalk, when they unfold dark green and slightly puberulous above, especially along the midrib, and covered below with fine silvery white pubescence, at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, pale and pubescent below, 1½′—2½′ long and about ¾′ wide, with slightly thickened revolute margins, a prominent midrib and primary veins; turning in the autumn before falling dark rich maroon color on the upper surface. Flowers appearing from June in the south to August in the north, those of the staminate plant opening in succession during nearly a month and continuing to unfold long after the petals of the pistillate plant have fallen, on stout pubescent pedicels ⅛′—¼′ long, in short compact pubescent panicles, the lower branches from the axils of the upper leaves, 4′—6′ long, 3′—4′ broad, and usually smaller on the female than on the male plant, their bracts and bractlets ovate or oblong, densely cinereo-pilose, deciduous before the expansion of the flowers; calyx puberulous on the outer surface, with ovate acute lobes one third as long as the ovate greenish yellow petals rounded at apex, becoming reflexed above the middle; disk red and conspicuous; stamens somewhat longer than the petals, with slender filaments and large orange-colored anthers, in the pistillate flower much shorter than the petals, with minute rudimentary anthers; ovary ovoid, pubescent, glabrous, much smaller in the staminate flower. Fruit ripening in five or six weeks and borne in stout compact often nodding pubescent clusters sometimes persistent on the branches until the beginning of the following summer, ⅛′ across, slightly obovoid, more or less flattened, with a thin bright red coat covered with short fine glandular hairs, and a smooth bony orange-brown stone; seed reniform, smooth, orange-colored, with a broad funicle.

A tree, 25°—30° high, with colorless watery juice, a short stout trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, erect spreading branches, and branchlets at first dark green tinged with red and more or less densely clothed with short fine or sometimes ferrugineous pubescence, appearing slightly zigzag at the end of their first season from the swellings formed by the prominent leaf-scars, and then pale reddish brown, slightly puberulous and marked by conspicuous dark-colored lenticels; or at the north usually a low shrub rarely more than 4°—5° tall. Winter-buds minute, nearly globose, and covered with dark rusty brown tomentum. Bark of the trunk ⅓′—½′ thick, light brown tinged with red, and marked by large elevated dark red-brown circular excrescences, and separating into large thin papery scales. Wood light, soft, coarse-grained, light brown streaked with green and often tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 4 or 5 layers of annual growth. The leaves are rich in tannin and are gathered in large quantities and ground for curing leather and for dyeing.

Distribution. Dry hillsides and ridges; widely and generally distributed from northern New England to southern Florida, and to southeastern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas and the valley of the San Antonio River, Texas; in Cuba; in the United States arborescent only southward; at the north rarely more than a few feet high and spreading by underground stems on gravelly sterile soil into broad thickets; varying considerably in the size and form of the leaflets. The most distinct and probably the most constant of these varieties is var. _lanceolata_ A. Gray, a small tree growing on the prairies of eastern Texas to the valley of the Rio Grande and to southeastern New Mexico, often forming thickets on river bluffs or on the banks of small streams, and distinguished by its narrow acute often falcate leaflets and by its larger inflorescence and fruit. A tree sometimes 25°—30° high, with a trunk occasionally 8′ in diameter, covered by dark gray bark marked by lenticular excrescences. The flowers appear in July and August and the dull red or sometimes green fruit ripens in early autumn and falls before the beginning of winter.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in the eastern United States, and in western and northern Europe.

3. Rhus vernix L. Poison Dogwood. Poison Sumach.

Leaves 7′—14′ long, with a slender usually light red or red and green petiole, and 7—13 obovate-oblong entire leaflets slightly unequal at base and narrowed at the acute or rounded apex, bright orange color and coated, especially on the margins and under surface, with fine pubescence when they unfold, soon becoming glabrous, and at maturity 3′—4′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, dark green and lustrous above, pale below, with a prominent midrib scarlet above, primary veins forked near the margins, conspicuous reticulate veinlets, and revolute margins; turning early in the autumn before falling to brilliant shades of scarlet or orange and scarlet. Flowers about ⅛′ long, appearing in early summer on slender pubescent pedicels bibracteolate near the middle, in long narrow axillary pubescent panicles crowded near the end of the branches, with acute pubescent early deciduous bracts and bractlets; calyx-lobes acute, one third the length of the yellow-green acute petals erect and slightly reflexed toward the apex; stamens nearly twice as long as the petals, with slender filaments and large orange-colored anthers, in the fertile flower not more than half the length of the petals, with small rudimentary anthers; ovary ovoid-globose, with short thick spreading styles terminating in large capitate stigmas. Fruit ripening in September and often persistent on the branches until the following spring, in long graceful racemes, ovoid, acute, often flattened and slightly gibbous, tipped with the dark remnants of the styles, glabrous, striate, ivory-white or white tinged with yellow, very lustrous, and about ½′ long; stone conspicuously grooved, the wall thin, membranaceous; seed pale yellow.

A tree, with acrid poisonous juice turning black on exposure, occasionally 25° high, with a trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, slender rather pendulous branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender glabrous branchlets reddish brown and covered with minute orange-colored lenticels when they first appear, orange-brown at the end of their first season, becoming light gray and marked by large elevated conspicuous leaf-scars; more often a shrub, with several slender clustered stems. Winter-buds acute and covered with dark purple scales puberulous on the back, and ciliate on the margins with short pale hairs, the terminal ⅛′—¾′ long and two or three times larger than the axillary buds. Bark of the trunk thin, light gray, smooth or sometimes slightly striate. Wood light, soft, coarse-grained, light yellow streaked with brown, with lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Wet swamps often inundated during a portion of the year; northern New England to northern Florida and southern Alabama, and westward to Ontario and southeastern Minnesota, western Louisiana and the valley of the Neches River (San Augustine County) eastern Texas; common and one of the most dangerous plants of the North American flora. An infusion of the young branches and leaves is employed in homœopathic practice, and the juice can be used as a black lustrous durable varnish.

4. Rhus integrifolia B. & H. Mahogany.

Leaves simple or very rarely 3-foliolate, persistent, acute or rounded at apex, with thickened revolute, or spinosely toothed margins (var. _serrata_ Engler), puberulous when young, and at maturity 1½′—3′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, thick and coriaceous, dark yellow-green above, paler below, and glabrous with the exception of the stout petiole, broad thick midrib, and prominent reticulate veins. Flowers appearing from February to April, ¼′ in diameter when expanded, on short stout pedicels, with 2—4 broad-ovate pointed persistent scarious ciliate pubescent bractlets, in short dense racemes forming hoary-pubescent terminal panicles 1′—3′ in length; sepals rose-colored, orbicular, concave, ciliate on the margins, rather less than half the length of the rounded ciliate reflexed rose-colored petals; stamens as long as the petals, with slender filaments and pale anthers, minute and rudimentary in the pistillate flower; ovary broad-ovoid, pubescent, with 3 short thick connate styles and very large 3-lobed capitate stigmas, rudimentary in the staminate flower. Fruit ½′ long, ovoid, flattened, more or less gibbous, thick, dark red, densely pubescent; stone kidney-shaped, smooth, light chestnut-brown, with thick walls; seed flattened, pale, with a broad dark-colored funicle covering its side.

A tree, rarely 30° high, with a short stout trunk 2°—3° in diameter, numerous spreading branches, and stout branchlets covered when they first appear with thick pale pubescence disappearing in their second and third years, and bright reddish brown and marked by numerous small elevated lenticels; or usually a small often almost prostrate shrub. Winter-buds small, obtuse, covered with a thick coat of pale tomentum. Bark of the trunk ¼′—½′ thick, bright reddish brown, exfoliating in large plate-like scales. Wood hard, heavy, bright clear red, with thin pale sapwood of 8—10 layers of annual growth; valued and largely used as fuel. The fruit is occasionally employed in the preparation of a cooling beverage.

Distribution. Sandy sterile soil along sea beaches, and bluffs in the immediate vicinity of the ocean; neighborhood of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, California, to the shores of Magdalena Bay, Lower California, and on the Santa Barbara and Cedros islands; on the mainland usually shrubby, forming close impenetrable thickets; in more sheltered situations and on the islands becoming arborescent; probably of its largest size on the shores of Todos Santos Bay, Lower California.

XXXII. CYRILLACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with small scaly buds and watery juice. Leaves alternate, entire, subcoriaceous, without stipules, persistent or tardily deciduous. Flowers small, regular, perfect, on slender bibracteolate pedicels, in terminal or axillary racemes; calyx 5—8-lobed, persistent, the lobes imbricated in the bud; petals 5—8, hypogynous; stamens 5—10, hypogynous, those opposite the petals shorter than the others; anthers oblong, introrse, 2-celled, the cells laterally dehiscent, opening longitudinally; ovary 2—4-celled; ovules suspended, anatropous; raphe dorsal; micropyle superior. Fruit an indehiscent capsule. Seed suspended; seed-coat membranaceous; albumen fleshy, radicle superior.

A family confined to the warmer parts of America, with three genera, of which two are represented by small trees in the southern states.

CONSPECTUS OF THE GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Flowers in axillary racemes; calyx 5-lobed; petals 5 contorted in the bud; fruit without wings, 2-celled, with 2 seeds in each cell. 1. Cyrilla. Flowers in terminal racemes; calyx 5—8-lobed; petals 5—8 imbricated in the bud; fruit with 2—4 wings, 3 or rarely 4-celled, with 1 seed in each cell. 2. Cliftonia.

1. CYRILLA L.

A glabrous tree or shrub, with spongy bark, slender terete branchlets conspicuously marked by large leaf-scars, and narrow acute winter-buds covered with chestnut-brown scales. Leaves usually clustered near the end of the branches, oblong or oblong-obovate, pointed, rounded, or slightly emarginate at apex, conspicuously reticulate-veined, short-petiolate. Flowers on pedicels from the axils of narrow alternate persistent bracts, in slender racemes from the axils of fallen leaves or of small deciduous bracts near the end of the branches of the previous year; calyx minute, divided nearly to the base into 5 ovate-lanceolate acute coriaceous lobes; petals 5, contorted in the bud, white or rose color, inserted on an annular disk, three or four times longer than the calyx-lobes, oblong-lanceolate, acute, concave, subcoriaceous, furnished below the middle on the inner surface with a broad glandular nectary; stamens 5, opposite the divisions of the calyx, inserted with and shorter than the petals; filaments subulate, fleshy; anther-cells united above the point of attachment, free below; ovary ovoid, free, sessile, pointed, 2-celled; styles short, thick; stigma 2-lobed, with spreading lobes; ovules 3 in each cell, suspended from an elongated placental process developed from the apex of the cell. Fruit 2-celled, broad-ovoid, crowned with the remnants of the persistent style; pericarp spongy. Seeds 2 in each cell, elongated, acuminate; embryo minute, cylindric, 2-lobed.

Cyrilla is represented by a single species of the coast region of the south Atlantic and Gulf states and of the Antilles and eastern tropical South America.

The name commemorates the scientific labors of Dominico Cirillo (1734—1799), the distinguished Italian naturalist and patriot.

1. Cyrilla racemiflora L. Ironwood. Leather Wood.

Leaves 2′—3′ long and ¼′—1′ wide, with a stout petiole ⅛′—1′ in length; turning late in the autumn and early winter to brilliant shades of orange and scarlet and then deciduous, or southward persistent with little change of color until the beginning of the following summer. Flowers appearing late in June or early in July, in racemes usually 6—10 together and 4′—6′ long, at first erect, becoming pendulous before the fruit ripens. Fruit ripening in August and September, rarely more than 1/16′ long; seeds light brown.

A slender tree, occasionally 30°—35° high, with a stout often eccentric trunk 10′—14′ in diameter, dividing several feet above the ground into numerous wide-spreading branches, and slender branchlets bright brown during their first season and ultimately ashy gray; often a broad bush sending up many slender stems 15°—20° high. Winter-buds about ⅛′ long. Bark of the trunk rarely more than ½′ thick except near the base of old trees, and covered by large thin bright red-brown scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, not strong, brown tinged with red, with rather lighter colored sapwood. The spongy bark at the base of the trunk is pliable, absorbent, and astringent, and has been recommended as a styptic.

Distribution. Rich shaded river-bottoms, the borders of sandy swamps and shallow ponds of the coast Pine-belt, or on high sandy exposed ridges rising above streams near the Gulf coast; southeastern Virginia southward near the coast to northern Florida and westward along the Gulf coast to the valley of the Neches River, Texas; in Lake County, Florida, and ranging northward in Mississippi to Forrest County (near Hattiesburg, _T. G. Harbison_), and in Alabama to Dallas County; in swamps near the coast of western Florida often a low shrub with smaller leaves and shorter racemes (var. _parviflora_ Sarg.); in Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico, Demarara, and Brazil (var. _racemifera_ Sarg.).

2. CLIFTONIA Gærtn. f.

A glabrous tree or shrub, with thick dark brown scaly bark, slender terete branchlets marked by conspicuous leaf-scars, and small acuminate buds covered by chestnut-brown scales. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, rounded or slightly emarginate at apex, glandular-punctate, short-petiolate, persistent. Flowers on pedicels from the axils of large acuminate membranaceous alternate bracts deciduous before the opening of the flowers, in short terminal erect racemes; calyx 5—8-lobed, equal or unequal, broad-ovoid, rounded or acuminate at apex, much shorter than the 5—8 obovate unguiculate concave white or rose-colored sepals; stamens 10, opposite and alternate with the sepals, inserted with and shorter than the petals, 2-ranked, those of the outer rank longer than the others; filaments laterally enlarged near the middle, flattened below, subulate above; disk cup-shaped, surrounding the base of the oblong 2—4-winged 2—4-celled ovary; stigma subsessile, obscurely 2—4-lobed; ovules 2 in each cell, suspended from its apex. Fruit oblong, 2—4-winged, crowned with the remnants of the persistent style, 3 or rarely 4-celled; pericarp spongy, the wings thin and membranaceous. Seed 1 in each cell, terete, tapering to the ends, suspended; cotyledons very short.

Cliftonia is represented by a single species of the south Atlantic and Gulf states.

The generic name is in honor of Dr. Francis Clifton (d. 1736), an English physician.

1. Cliftonia monophylla Britt. Titi. Ironwood.

Leaves 1½′—2′ long, ½′—1′ wide, bright green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface; persistent until the autumn of their second year. Flowers fragrant, appearing in February and March, in racemes at first nodding, and conspicuous from the long exserted dark red-brown caducous bracts, becoming erect as the flowers open. Fruit about ¼′ long, ripening in August and September; seeds 1/16′—⅛′ long, light brown.

A tree, occasionally 40°—50° high, with a stout often crooked or inclining trunk, occasionally 15′—18′ in diameter, and usually divided 12°—15° from the ground into a number of stout ascending branches, and slender rigid bright red-brown branchlets, becoming paler during their second and third seasons; or sometimes a shrub, with numerous straggling stout or slender stems frequently only a few feet high or occasionally 30°—40° high. Winter-buds about ¼′ long. Bark of young stems and of large branches thin, the surface separating into small persistent scales 1′—2′ long, becoming near the base of old trees deeply furrowed, dark red-brown, ¼′ thick, and broken on the surface into short broad scales. Wood heavy, close-grained, moderately hard, brittle, not strong, brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood of 40—50 layers of annual growth; burning with a clear bright flame, and valued as fuel.

Distribution. Damp sandy peat soil in swamps almost submerged for several months of the year, or often in shallow rarely overflowed swamps; coast region of the south Atlantic states from the valley of the Savannah River to the coast of western Florida, and through the maritime Pine-belt of the Gulf coast to eastern Louisiana.

XXXIII. AQUIFOLIACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with terete branchlets, scaly buds, and alternate simple entire crenate or pungently toothed petiolate persistent or deciduous leaves, with minute stipules. Flowers axillary, solitary or cymose, small, greenish white, diœcious; calyx 4—6-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud, hypogynous; petals 4—6, oval or oblong, obtuse, free or united at base, imbricated in the bud; disk 0; stamens as many as and alternate with the petals and adnate to the base of the corolla; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally, small and sterile in the pistillate flower; pistil compound; ovary 4—8-celled, minute and rudimentary in the staminate flower; style short or 0; stigmas as many as the cells of the ovary, nearly confluent; ovule generally solitary in each cell, suspended, anatropous; raphe usually dorsal, the micropyle superior. Fruit a drupe, with as many indehiscent bony or crustaceous 1-seeded nutlets as carpels; sarcocarp thin and fleshy. Seed narrowed at the ends, suspended; seed-coat membranaceous, pale brown; embryo minute in the apex of the copious fleshy albumen; cotyledons plain; the radicle superior.

The Holly family with five genera is distributed in temperate and tropical regions of the two hemispheres. Of the five genera now recognized, only Ilex is important in the number of species or is widely distributed.

1. ILEX L.

Characters of the family.

Ilex with about one hundred and seventy-five species is found in all tropical and temperate regions of the world with the exception of western North America, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and New Guinea, the largest number of species occurring in Brazil and Guiana. Of the thirteen species which inhabit eastern North America, six are trees. Ilex contains a bitter principle, ilicin, and possesses tonic properties. _Ilex paraguariensis_ St. Hilaire, of South America, furnishes the maté or Paraguay tea, and is the most useful of the species. The European _Ilex Aquifolium_ L. is a favorite garden plant, and is sometimes planted in the middle, southern, and Pacific United States.

_Ilex_ is the classical name of the Evergreen Oak of southern Europe.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Parts of the flower in 4’s; pedicels with bractlets at the base; nutlets prominently ribbed on the back and sides; leaves persistent. Leaves armed with spiny teeth; young branchlets glabrous or sparingly pubescent. 1. I. opaca (A, C). Leaves serrate or entire; fruit bright red. Leaves oblanceolate or oblong-obovate, mostly entire; young branchlets pubescent; calyx-lobes acuminate. 2. I. Cassine (C). Leaves elliptic or oblong-elliptic, coarsely crenulate-serrate; young branchlets puberulous; calyx-lobes obtuse. 3. I. vomitoria (C). Leaves entire, ovate, ovate-elliptic or ovate-lanceolate; fruit brownish purple. 4. I. Krugiana (D). Parts of the flower in 4’s or 5’s, rarely in 6’s; pedicels without bractlets; nutlets striate, many-ribbed on the back; leaves deciduous. Leaves oblong-spatulate or obovate-lanceolate, remotely crenulate-serrate; calyx-lobes broad-triangular. 5. I. decidua (A, C). Leaves ovate or oblong-lanceolate, sharply serrate; calyx-lobes acute. 6. I. monticola (A).

1. Ilex opaca Ait. Holly.

Leaves elliptic to obovate-oblong, pungently acute, with thickened undulate margins and few stout spinose teeth, or occasionally entire, especially on upper branches, thick, coriaceous, dull yellow-green, paler and often yellow on the lower surface, 2′—4′ long, with a prominent midrib and conspicuous veins; persistent on the branches for three years, finally deciduous in the spring; petioles short, stout, thickened at base, grooved above, slightly puberulent; stipules minute, broad-acute or nearly deltoid, persistent. Flowers appearing in spring on slender puberulous pedicels, with minute acute bractlets, in short pedunculate cymes from the axils of young leaves or scattered along the base of the young shoots, 3—9-flowered on the staminate and 1 or rarely 2 or 3-flowered on the pistillate plant; calyx-lobes acute, ciliate on the margins; stigmas broad and sessile. Fruit ripening late in the autumn, persistent on the branches during the winter, spherical or ovoid, dull red or rarely yellow, ¼′ in diameter; nutlets prominently few-ribbed on the back and sides, rather narrower at apex than at base.