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supported by long red peduncles. These berries are greedily devoured by birds, and consequently do not remain long on the tree. The bark of the young branches is smooth, and beautifully green; but, when old, it becomes of "a greyish colour, and is chapped into deep cracks. On cutting into it, it exhibits a dark dull red, a good deal resembling the colour of Peruvian bark." (Michx. N. Amer. Syl., ii. p. 146.) In the United States the sassafras is found as far north as lat. 43°; but it there appears only as a tall shrub, rarely exceeding 15 ft. or 20 ft. in height. In the neighbourhood of New York and Philadelphia, however, it grows to the height of 40 ft. or 50 ft., and attains a still greater size in the southern states. It is abundant from "Boston to the banks of the Mississippi, and from the shores of the ocean in Virginia to the remotest wilds of Upper Louisiana beyond the Missouri, comprising an extent in each direction of more than 1800 miles." (Michx.) "The sassafras, on account of its medicinal properties, was one of the first American trees which became known to Europeans. Monardez, in 1549, and after him Clusius," treat of its uses. Gerard calls it the ague tree, and says, that a decoction of its bark will cure agues, and many other diseases. The bark is still employed in medicine, that of the roots being preferred; and it is said to be an excellent sudorific. A decoction of the chips is well known as a remedy for scorbutic affections. In different parts of the United States, a tea is made of the flowers, which is considered very efficacious in purifying the blood. In Louisiana the leaves are used to thicken pottage; and in Virginia a beer is made of the young shoots. The sassafras chips which are sold in the English druggists' shops are formed of the wood of this tree; but what are called the sassafras nuts are the fruit of the Laúrus Pucheri of the Flora Peruviana. (See Lindl. Nat. Syst. of Bot.) Bigelow says that this tree is produced in almost every part of the United States. "It not only inhabits every latitude from New England to Florida, but we are told it is also found in the forests of Mexico, and even in those of Brazil. Its peculiar foliage, and the spicy qualities of its bark, render it a prominent object of notice, and it seems to have been one of the earliest trees of the North American continent to attract the attention of Europeans. Its character, as an article of medicine, was at one time so high, that it commanded an extravagant price, and treatises were written to celebrate its virtues. It still retains a place in the best European pharmacopæias.” (Bigelow's American Botany, vol. ii. p.141.) He adds that" the bark has an agreeable smell, and a fragrant spicy taste. The flavour of the root is more powerful than that of the branches; and both flavour and odour reside in a volatile oil, which is readily obtained from the bark by distillation. The bark and pith of the young twigs abound with a pure and delicate mucilage; and in this mucilage and the volatile oil all the medicinal virtues of the tree are contained. The bark and wood were formerly much celebrated in the cure of various complaints, particularly in rheumatism and dropsy; but they are now only recognised as forming a warm stimulant and diaphoretic." (Ibid.) The sassafras is of little value as a timber tree. In America, the wood, which is white or reddish, is sometimes used for making bedsteads and other articles of furniture, which are not liable to be attacked by insects, and have a most agreeable odour, which they retain as long as they are sheltered from the sun and rain. The wood is of very little esteem for fuel; and the "bark contains a great deal of air, and snaps while burning like that of the chestnut." (Michx.) The most interesting historical recollection connected with this tree is, that it may be said to have led to the discovery of America; as it was its strong fragrance, smelt by Columbus, that encouraged him to persevere when his crew mutinied, and enabled him to convince them that land was near at hand.

Soil, Propagation, &c. Any free soil, rather moist than dry, will suit this species, which is generally propagated from imported seeds, which should be sown or put in a rot-heap, as soon as received, as they remain a year, and sometimes two or three years, in the ground, before they come up. The sassafras may also be propagated by cuttings of the roots, or by suckers, which

the roots of old trees (at Syon, for example,) throw up in great abundance. The situation where the tree is finally planted should be sheltered; and, in the north of England and in Scotland, to insure fine foliage, it should be planted against a wall.

Statistics. Laurus Sassafras in England. In the environs of London, the largest tree is at Syon, where it is 40 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 8 in., and of the head 29 ft. At Kew, it is 40 ft. high. In the Fulham Nursery, it is 30 ft. high. In the Mile End Nursery, it is 21 ft. high. South of London, in the Isle of Jersey, in Saunders's Nursery, 14 years planted, it is 12 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 9 in., and of the head 9 ft. In Kent, at Cobham Hall, 30 years planted, it is 50 ft. high, and the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 6 in. In Surrey, at St. Ann's Hill, 30 years planted, it is 22 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 2 in., and of the head 12 ft. North of London, in Worcestershire, at Croome, 40 years planted, it is 25 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 9 in., and of the head 12 ft.

L. Sassafras in Scotland. In the Isle of Bute, at Mount Stewart, it is 10 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 3 in., and of the head 5 ft.

L. Sassafras in Ireland. In the environs of Dublin, at Castletown, it is 28 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 6 in. North of Dublin, in Galway, at Coole, it is 19 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 12 in., and of the head 22 ft. In Louth, at Oriel Temple, 12 years planted, it is 9 ft. high,

the diameter of head 5 ft.

L. Sassafras in Foreign Countries. In France, at Sceaux, 16 years planted, it is 15 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 8 in., and of the head 6 ft. In the neighbourhood of Nantes, 24 years planted, it is 50 ft. high, with a trunk 2 ft. in diameter. In the Botanical Garden at Avranches, 29 years planted, it is 20 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 8 in., and of the head 12 ft. In Italy, in Lombardy, at Monza, 12 years planted, it is 10 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 8 in., and of the head 5 ft.

Commercial Statistics. Plants in the London nurseries, are 5s. each; and seeds 6s. a quart; at Bollwyller, plants are 2 francs and 30 cents each; and at New York, 25 cents.

6. L. BENZO IN L. The Benzoin Laurel, or Benjamin Tree. Identification. Lin. Hort. Cliff., 154.; Gron. Virg., 46.; Mill. Dict., No. 6.; Willd. Arb., 165.; Willd. Sp. Pl., 2. p. 485.; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836.

Synonymes Arbor virginiana citreæ vel limonii folio, Benzoinum fundens, Comm. Hort., 1. p. 189. t 97.; Laúrus aestivalis Wangh. Amer., 87.; L. Pseudo- Benzoin Mich. Fl. Amer., 1. p. 243. ; L. Euosmus Benzoin Nutt. Gen., 1. p. 259.; Benzoin, sp. C. G. Nees Von Esenbeck; Spice Bush, Spice Wood, or wild Allspice, Amer., according to Nuttall; Laurier faux Benzoin, Fr.; Benzoin Lorbeer, Ger.

Engravings. Comm. Hort., 1. t. 97.; Pluk. Alm., t. 139. f. 34; and our fig. 1171.

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves cuneate-obovate, entire, the under side whitish and partly pubescent, deciduous. Sexes polygamous. Flowers in umbels. Buds and pedicels of the umbels glabrous. (Nutt. Gen., i. p. 259.) Leaves without nerves, ovate, acute at both ends. (Willd. Sp. Pl., ii. p. 485.) A deciduous shrub, a native of Virginia, where it grows to the height of 10 ft. or 12 ft. It was introduced in 1688, and is not unfrequent in collections. In British gardens, it forms a rather tender peat-earth shrub, handsome from its large leaves, but seldom thriving, except where the soil is kept moist and the situation sheltered. The bark of L. Benzoin is highly aromatic, stimulant, and tonic, and is extensively used in North America in intermittent fevers. The oil of the fruit is said to be stimulant. (Lindl. Nat. Syst. of Bot., on the information of Barton.) The true Benjamin tree, or gum benzoin, is not, as Ray supposed, this Laúrus Benzoin, but a species of Styrax; as was first shown by the late Mr. Dryander, in the Philoso

phical Transactions for 1787, p. 307, t. 12. (Rees's Cyclop.) Laúrus Benzoin is propagated from imported seeds, which require to be treated like those of Laurus Sássafras.

Statistics. The largest plant, in the neighbourhood of London, is at Ham House, where it is 15 ft. high; at Syon, it is 14 ft. high; at Kew, 6 ft high; in the Horticultural Society's Garden, 8 ft. high. In Sussex, at Westdean, 14 years planted, it is 12 ft. high. In Warwickshire, at Newnham Paddocks, 10 years planted, it is 5 ft. high. In Worcestershire, at Croome, 15 years planted, it is 15 ft. high; at Hagley, 12 years planted, it is 6 ft. high. In Ireland, at Oriel Temple, 12 years planted, it is 6 ft. high. In Germany, near Vienna, at Brück on the Leytha, 25 years planted, it is 15 ft. high. At Berlin, in the Botanic Garden, 14 years planted, it is 10 ft. high. In Italy, at Monza, 24 years planted, it is 14 ft. high.

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

25 cents.

7. L. (B.) DIOSPYRUS Pers. The Diospyrus-like Laurel, or Bay. Identification. Pers. Syn., 1. p. 450.; Bot. Mag., t. 1470.; where Dr. Sims states that Persoon's epithet, Diospyrus, is an abbreviation of Michaux's one of diospyröldes. Synonymes. L. Euósmus Diospyrus Nutt. Gen., 1. p. 259. ; L. diospyröldes Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 1. p. 243.; ? L. melissæfòlia Walt. Fl. Car., 134. Dr. Sims (Bot. Mag., t. 1470.) states that he has not much doubt that the L. melissæfolia Walter is identical with this species; and he adds that Mr. 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, the scent, not the form, that suggested the appellation."

Engravings. Bot. Mag., t. 1470.; and our fig. 1172.

Spec. Char., &c. Habit low, surculose, twiggy. Leaves oblong-oval and entire, the under side veiny and pubescent, deciduous. Flower buds and pedicels villous. Sexes dioecious. Fruit large. (Nutt. Gen., i. p. 259.) A running twiggy shrub, 2 ft. or 3 ft. high, in its native swamps, in Virginia and Carolina; introduced in 1810. Leaves opaque, oblong-oval, attenuated towards the base, entire, the under side veiny and pubescent, deciduous. Scales of the buds purple, villous. Younger branches villous. Sexes dioecious. Flower buds and pedicels villous. Flowers disposed in sessile umbeled groups, 3-5 in a group. Perfect stamens 9. Gland-like bodies large, orange yellow. Fruit larger than that of L. Benzoin, oblong-ovate, scarlet, upon thick and distinct pedicels Cotyledons large, thick, oily, attached by near their base to the remainder of the embryo. (Nutt. Gen., i. p. 259.) It is what may be deemed the male sex that is represented in Bot. Mag., t. 1470., and our fig. 1172.; and in the text of the Bot. Mag. is the following interesting information by Dr. Sims, on the structure of its flowers. There were 9 perfect stamens, and an imperfect ovary; and 6 glands on short pedicels, resembling so many little yellow mushrooms, with a warty pileus: the anthers had 2 cells each. (Bot. Mag.) L. Pseudo-Benzoin Michx. is supposed by Dr. Sims (Bot. Mag., t. 1471.) to be either identical with, or a slight variation from, this species. The only plant which we 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 our mind that Dr. Sims's conjecture was right.

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8. L. (B.) ESTIVALIS L. The summer Laurel, or Willow-leaved Bay. Identification. Lin. Sp., 529.; Syst., 384.; Mart. Mill., No. 24.; Willd. Sp. Pl., 2. p. 485. Synonymes. L. enérvia Mill. Dict., No. 8.; L. Euósmus æstivalis Nutt. Gen., 1. p. 259. ; Pond bush, Amer.; Sommer Lorbeer, Ger.

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

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves oblong-acuminate, entire, glabrous, veiny, deciduous. Flowers in umbels. Sexes polygamous. (Nutt. Gen., i. p. 259.) Dr. Sims has noted, incidentally, in the Bot. Mag., t. 1470., that there are two different specimens of the L. æstivalis in the Banksian herbarium; that one of them, the flowering specimen from Jacquin's herbarium, is evidently a specimen of the L. geniculata Bot. Mag., t. 1471.; and that the other, 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 which species L. æstivàlis really belongs, and that if Linnæus had meant the character of supra-axillary branches to describe that the buds are produced below the branches, and not in the axils of them, it is as applicable to the allied 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 intersect the pine barrens. Introduced in 1775. There was a plant in the Horticultural Society's Garden, some years ago, which is since dead.

9. L. GENICULA TA Michx. The knee-flexed-branched Laurel, or Bay. Identification. Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 1. p. 244.; Pers. Synops., 1. p. 450.; Walt. Fl. Car., p. 133. ; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 276.; Bot. Mag., t. 1471.

Synonymes. L. Euósmus geniculata Nutt. Gen., 1. p. 259. ; L. æstivalis Willd. Sp. Pl., 2. p. 484., according to Pursh.

Engravings. Bot. Mag., t. 1471.; and our fig. 1173.

Anthers

Spec. Char., &c. Branches divaricate and flexuous. Leaves cuneate-oblong, mostly obtuse, about 1 in. long, in many instances less than half an inch wide, entire, glabrous, except upon the under side near the base. Flowers in terminal small umbels, that are upon conspicuous footstalks and smooth. unequally 4-celled. Sexes polygamous. (Nutt. Gen.,i. p. 259.) Nuttall adds that this kind grows from 8 ft. to 12 ft. high, and that the branches are flexuous, grey, smooth, and so remarkably divaricated as to give a characteristic appearance to the pods which they border; and that its native localities are, invariably, sandy swamps, and the margins of lagoons, from Virginia to Florida. Dr. Sims has noted that the zigzag direction and deep colour of the branches distinguish the L. geniculata at first sight; and that he could not perceive in its bark any of the aromatic scent so remarkable in most of the genus, and which is so clearly perceptible in L. Benzoin. Pursh states that the flowers are yellow, and the berries globose and scarlet. We received a plant of this species from Bartram's Botanic Garden, in 1831: it appeared very distinct; but, owing to the crowded state of our garden, and the want of moisture, it died in the summer of 1834. Price of plants, at New York, 1 dollar.

1173

App. I. Half-hardy Species of Lauracea.

Cinnamomum Camphora Swt. Laúrus Camphora L., the Camphor tree, (N. Du Ham, 2. t. 35.; Bot. Mag., t. 2658; and our fig.1174.) is a native of Japan, and other parts of Eastern India, where it grows to the height of the European lime tree, and makes a fine appearance, from its glossy

shining leaves. The wood is white, with reddish waxy leaves, and the odour of camphor is exhaled from it, and from every other part of the plant. Camphor, and camphor oil, are well known medicines, which are obtained from this tree. Camphor is considered one of the principal diaphoretics, and is of a particularly subtile and penetrating

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nature, quickly diffusing itself through the whole human frame. It is used in a great variety of medical preparations. Camphor is obtained from the tree by splitting the wood into small pieces, and distilling it with water in an iron retort, covered with an earthen or wooden pot, in the hollow of which hay or straw is placed, to which the camphor adheres as it rises with the steam of the water. It is at first of a brownish white, and in very small particles, but, after being redistilled, it is compressed into the lumps which we see in the shops. The camphor used in Europe is chiefly imported from Japan. Camphor oil is obtained by making an incision in the trunk of the tree, and inserting a small tube of reed, through which the sap exudes, from which the oil is obtained by skimming. In British gardens the camphor tree is commonly kept in green-houses or cold-pits; and we have no doubt whatever, that, with a moderate degree of protection, it would live against a conservative wall. C. verum Swt.; Laúrus Cinnamomum L.; L. Cássia Bot. Mag., 1656.; and our fig. 1175.; the

cinnamon tree, is a native of the Island of Ceylon, and other parts of the East; and it has been introduced into South America, and the Isle of France, where it is cultivated for the bark. It is commonly considered as a stove plant, but it has ripened seeds in the conservatory of M. Boursault, at Paris, from which young plants have been raised, in 1827, 1828, and 1829, and these plants have stood the winter in the open air there for several years, with very little protection. It well deserves a trial, therefore, against a conservative wall, in British gardens.

C. Cássia D. Don; Laúrus Cássia L.; L. Cinnamomum Bot. Rep.; Persea Cássia Spr.; the Wild Cinnamon, Bot. Rep., t. 596., which is a native of Ceylon, where it grows to the height of 50 ft. or 60 ft., with large spreading branches, is thought to be nothing more than C. vèrum in a wild state.

Other ligneous plants belonging to this order, natives of Japan, Mexico, the Cape of Good Hope, and of New South Wales, and usually kept in green-houses, will be found enumerated in our Hortus Britannicus. Most of them, we have no doubt, could make a much better appearance against a flued conservative wall, than ever they can do in a house.

CHAP. XCIV.

OF THE HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS BELONGING TO THE ORDER PROTEA CEE.

ALL the plants of this order are ligneous; and, with very few exceptions, are natives of Australia, and the Cape of Good Hope. Many species have been introduced, belonging to upwards of 30 1176

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genera; and, doubtless, there are a great number of these, particularly the natives of New Holland, which would stand the winters of the climate of London against a conservative wall.

Banksia littoralis R. Br. is a native of New Holland, where it forms

a bush 8 ft. high, A plant stood against a wall in the Horticultural

Society's Garden, from 1832 till it was killed by the severe spring of 1836.

B. oblongifolia Cav., Bot. Cab., 241., stood out with us at Bayswater for four years, but was killed in the spring of 1836.

Grevillea rosmarinifolia Cun. (fig. 1176.) is a very elegant plant, a native of New South Wales, where it grows to the height of 4 ft. or 5 ft. A plant has stood out in front of the stove at Kew, since 1826, flowering freely every year.

G. acuminata R. Br. (figs. 1177, 1178.) is also a native of New South Wales, and is considered equally hardy with G. rosmarinifolia.

Hakea aciculàris R. Br., Vent. Malm., 3.; H. suaveolens R. Br.; and H. pugioniformis R. Br., Bot. Cab., 353., and our fig.1179.; have stood out in the Horticultural Society's Garden since 1832.

It is probable that most of the species belonging to this order are equally hardy with those above enumerated; and we should have no hesitation in asserting that, against a dued wall, with straw hurdles to be set against it during severe weather, and taken off for an hour or more every fine day, all the Proteace might be exhibited in the climate of London in greater vigour and beauty than they are in their native country. This may be thought a bold assertion; but, as it holds good in the case of Erica and Pelargonium, we see no reason why, if the same care were applied, the same should not follow in the case of all the plants of this very interesting order.

1179

CHAP. XCV.

OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER THYMELA CEE.

THESE belong to two genera, Dáphne L. and Dírca L., which have the following characters:

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