51. 52. 53. 54. Husk not dividing naturally. WALNUT and BUTTERNUT. IV. 1. Bark of thin, tough, horizontal fibres; aments simple; scale of the fertile catkins 3-flowered. BIRCH. V. 1. Bark not of tough fibres; aments on branched stalks; scale of the fertile catkins 2-flowered. ALDER. V. 2. § Leaves lance-shaped, serrate. WAX MYRTLE and SWEET GALE. VI. 1. Leaves sinuate-pinnatifid. SWEET FERN. VI. 2. S Stamens 8-30, or more; leaves 3-angled or roundish. POPLAR. VIII. 1. Stamens 2-7; leaves mostly long, slender. WILLOW. VIII. 2. {{ (Flowers perfect; fruit a samara. ELM. X. 1. 55. Flowers sterile, or perfect, on one or different trees; fruit a drupe. NETTLE TREE. X. 2. 56. 57.< Anthers 4-celled; fruit-stalk fleshy; leaves often 3-lobed. SASSAFRAS. Anthers 2-celled; fruit-stalk not fleshy; leaves entire. BENZOIN. Leaves thorny, leathery, evergreen. HOLLY. XVI. 1. Leaves unarmed; petals 4-5, distinct; stamens 4-5. NEMOPANTHUS. Leaves unarmed; petals united, mostly 6-parted; stamens 4-6. WIN- Flowers in heads. BUTTON BUSH. XVII. 1. 58. { Flowers in globuch heuble ovary, berry of 2 united ovaries. PARTRIDGE 59. 60.< 61. BERRY, MITCHELLA. XVII. 2. Stamens 4. Trailing, evergreen. TWIN FLOWER, LINNEA. XVIII. 1. Stem not woody. Drupe 3-celled, 3-seeded. FEVERWORT. XVIII. 2. Stem woody. Berry 2-celled, many-seeded. BUSH HONEYSUCKLE, DI- Leaves pinnate. ELDER. XIX. 1. Leaves simple. VIBURNUM. XIX. 2. S Petals united. 63. 62. { Petals distinct or nearly so. 70. 63. Corolla somewhat funnel-shaped or bell-shaped. 64. 64. Corolla salver-shaped. 65. Corolla ovoid. 66. S Stamens 5 or 6. AZALEA. XX. 9. Stamens 10. RHODODENDRON. XX. 9. S Anthers resting in 10 cavities of the corolla. KALMIA. XX. 10. 65. {Anthers free, calyx double. MAY FLOWER, EPIGA. XX. 6. Fruit a berry, formed of the fleshy calyx. CHEQUER-BERRY. XX. 7. 66. Fruit a drupe, formed of the ovary, 5-seeded. BEAR-BERRY. XX. 8. Fruit a 5-celled, 5-valved capsule. 67. ANDROMEDA TRIBE. XX. 1. S Anthers ending in awns or bristles. 68. 67. {Anthers not ending in awns. 69. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. Anthers 2-awned. ANDROMEDA. XX. 1. Anther-cells each 2-awned. ZENOBIA. XX. 4. S Calyx with 2 bracts at base. CASSANDRA. XX. 2. Capsule 3-celled, 3-valved, enclosed by the calyx. Leaves smooth. Capsule 5-celled, 5-valved, opening at base. Leaves rusty-downy be- Capsule 5-celled, 5-valved, opening at the summit; corolla irregular. Corolla ovoid-bell-shaped. Berry sweetish, black or blue. WHORTLE- Corolla wheel-shaped, with reflexed segments. Berry acid, red. CRAN- Corolla broad-bell-shaped. Berry pleasant, sub-acid, white. CHIOG- Fruit 3-5 distinct, dry follicles; unarmed. HARDHACK, SPIREA. Fruit compound, of little drupes aggregated on a juicy receptacle; prickly. Fruit the enlarged calyx, containing the stony seeds; prickly. ROSE, Petals roundish; branches thorny. HAWTHORN, CRATEGUS. XXVII. 1. S Stone compressed; fruit covered with a bloom. PLUM. XXVIII. 1. { Leaves pinnate; stamens united; flowers in pendent racemes; stipules thorny. LOCUST TREE. XXIX. 1. Leaves simple; stamens distinct. JUDAS TREE. XXIX. (Leaves 3-5 lobed. Berry 1-celled. GRAPE VINE. XXX. 1. 76. digitately 5-leaved. 77. XXX. 2. Berry 2-celled. VIRGINIA CREEPER. Calyx free from the ovary; petals plain; flowers minute; fruit like a drupe, black. BUCK THORN. XXXI. 1. Calyx adherent to the ovary at base; petals sack-like, arched; flowers Petals 5, yellow; calyx 5-leaved, 2 outer smaller; plant erect. Rock 78. Petals 3, brownish purple, sepals 3. PINWEED, LECHEA. XXXVII. 2. Petals 5, yellow; calyx 3-parted, tubular, with 2 outer minute divisions; plant downy, tufted. HUDSONIA. XXXVII. 3. 79. Seeds pendulous by a thread, at maturity; leaves oval. MAGNOLIA. Seeds not pendulous; leaves truncate. TULIP TREE. XL. 2. THE WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. FIRST GENERAL DIVISION. DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. THIS division is far the largest and most important in the vegetable kingdom. To it belong nearly all the woody plants of temperate and cold regions. Dicotyledonous plants are distinguished by the structure of the wood, the structure and arrangement of the vessels and leaves, and especially by the structure of the seeds. The trunk in woody plants is composed of 1, a central pith or medulla, which does not extend into the root; 2, of a ligneous medullary sheath, enclosing the pith; 3, of wood arranged in circles or zones, the inner ones of which are called heartwood, and the external, usually of a different color, sap-wood; and 4, of bark, consisting of the inner bark, which is somewhat woody, the outer bark, composed of a green layer and a corky layer, and the epidermis or skin. From the pith radiate on every side, horizontally, vessels called medullary rays, the silver grain of wood, which extend through the wood and bark. The wood is formed by the annual addition of a new zone or layer outside the older wood and between it and the bark. This new zone consists essentially of woody vessels extending from the leaves to the extremities of the roots, and of the silver grain or medullary rays which traverse it horizontally on their way to the bark. A new zone of bark is at the same time formed between the new wood and the previous bark. The former exterior coats of bark are forced to expand, to make room for the newly formed wood and bark; and, when expanded to their greatest capacity, the external layers yield, crack, and open, causing the rugged, ridged, and furrowed appearance common in bark on the trunk of old trees. The leaves of dicotyledonous plants are usually jointed or articulated at base to the stem, or they are composed of several jointed leaflets, and are netted and feather-veined, the ribs and veins branching and running into each other; while the leaves of monocotyledonous plants are without joints, and have parallel ribs and veins which do not thus intersect. The essential part of the seed of a dicotyledonous plant, the embryo, is composed of two cotyledons united by a neck or collar to a radicle or future root. The cotyledons are the seedleaves, which, after the germination of the seed in the earth, usually expand upon the surface, as is conspicuously the case with the beech and the bean. Between these seed-leaves or cotyledons rises the plumule, the ascending axis, the future stem of the plant. Below them shoots downward the radicle, the descending axis or root. FIRST GENERAL DIVISION. DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. CHAPTER I. PLANTS WITH NAKED SEEDS. FAMILY I THE PINE FAMILY.-CONIFERE. THE pines, firs, junipers, cypresses, spruces, larches, hemlock, and yews, with some foreign trees, form a very distinct and strikingly natural group. The name evergreen, by which they are commonly known, is liable to the exception that one of the genera found in our climate, the larch, loses its leaves in winter. But it is so distinguishing a characteristic of the rest, that it is likely to be long retained. This family has claims to our particular attention, from the importance of its products in naval, and especially in civil and domestic architecture, in many of the other arts, and, in some instances, in medicine. Some of the species, in this country, are of more rapid growth, attain to a larger size, and rise to a loftier height than any other trees known. The white pine is much the tallest of our native trees. Some are still found in New England reaching nearly to 200 feet; and it is not many years since pines were standing in the eastern part of New York, which measured 240 feet. Lambert's Pine, on the Northwest coast, is found growing to the height of 230 feet,* and Douglas's Pine, in the same region, the loftiest tree known, has been said to exceed 300 feet. * Mr. Douglas gives the following description of one:-"One specimen, which had been blown down by the wind,-and this was certainly not the largest which I saw,—was of the following dimensions. Its entire length was 215 feet; its circumference, three feet from the ground, was fifty-seven feet nine inches; and at one hundred and thirty-four feet from the ground, seventeen feet five inches.” Linnean Transactions, 16, p. 500. The resin of this pine is used by the natives of the Northwest Coast as sugar; and the seeds are eaten, or roasted pounded into cakes, as part of their winter store. Lambert's Genus Pinus, p. 58. |