The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 40

4. oXALIS, L. WOOD-SORREL.

Sepals 5, persistent. Petals 5, sometimes united at base, withering after expansion. Stamens 10, usually monadelphous at base, alternately shorter. Styles 5, distinct. Pod oblong, membranaceous, 5-celled, more or less 5-lobed, each cell opening on the back; valves persistent, being fixed to the axis by the part.i.tions. Seeds 2 or more in each cell, pendulous from the axis, anatropous, their outer coat loose and separating. Embryo large and straight in fleshy alb.u.men; cotyledons flat.--Herbs, with sour watery juice, alternate or radical leaves, mostly of 3 obcordate leaflets, which close and droop at nightfall.

Several species produce small peculiar flowers, precociously fertilized in the bud and particularly fruitful; and the ordinary flowers are often dimorphous or even trimorphous in the relative length of the stamens and styles. (Name from ????, _sour_.)

[*] _Stemless perennials; leaves and scapes arising from a rootstock or bulb; leaflets broadly obcordate; flowers nearly 1' broad; cells of the pod few-seeded._

1. O. Acetosella, L. (COMMON WOOD-SORREL.) _Rootstock creeping_ and scaly-toothed; _scape 1-flowered_ (2--5' high); petals white with reddish veins, often notched.--Deep cold woods, Ma.s.s. to Penn., L. Superior, and northward; also southward in the Alleghanies. June.

(Eu.)

2. O. violacea, L. (VIOLET W.) Nearly smooth; _bulb scaly; scapes umbellately several-flowered_ (5--9' high), longer than the leaves; petals violet.--Rocky places and open woods; most common southward. May, June.

[*][*] _Stems leafy, branching; peduncles axillary; flowers yellow; cells several-seeded._

3. O. corniculata, L. (YELLOW W.) Annual or perennial by running subterranean shoots, erect or proc.u.mbent, strigose-p.u.b.escent; stipules round or truncate, ciliate; peduncles 2--6-flowered, longer than the leaves; pods elongated, erect in fruit.--Rare; on ballast, etc.; indigenous in Mo. (_Bush_), and southwestward. (Cosmopolitan.)

Var. stricta, Sav. Stem erect, somewhat glabrous to very villous; stipules none. (O. stricta, _L._)--Common. May--Sept. Varies greatly.

4. O. recurva, Ell. Like var. stricta of n. 3; leaflets larger (--1'

broad), usually with a brownish margin; flowers larger (6--8"

long).--Penn. to S. Ill., and southward.

5. IMPaTIENS, L. BALSAM. JEWEL-WEED.

Calyx and corolla colored alike and not clearly distinguishable. Sepals apparently only 4; the anterior one notched at the apex and probably consisting of two combined; the posterior one (appearing anterior as the flower hangs on its stalk) largest, and forming a spurred sac. Petals 2, unequal-sided and 2-lobed (each consisting of a pair united). Stamens 5, short; filaments appendaged with a scale on the inner side, the 5 scales connivent and united over the stigma; anthers opening on the inner face.

Ovary 5-celled; stigma sessile. Pod with evanescent part.i.tions, and a thick axis bearing several anatropous seeds, 5-valved, the valves coiling elastically and projecting the seeds in bursting. Embryo straight; alb.u.men none.--Leaves simple, alternate, without stipules, in our species ovate or oval, coa.r.s.ely toothed, petioled. Flowers axillary or panicled, often of two sorts, viz.,--the larger ones, which seldom ripen seeds;--and very small ones, which are fertilized early in the bud; their floral envelopes never expand, but are forced off by the growing pod and carried upward on its apex. (Name from the sudden bursting of the pods when touched, whence also the popular appellation, _Touch-me-not_, or _Snap-weed_.)

1. I. pallida, Nutt. (PALE TOUCH-ME-NOT.) _Flowers pale-yellow, sparingly dotted_ with brownish-red; sac dilated and very obtuse, broader than long, tipped with a short incurved spur.--Moist shady places and along rills, in rich soil; most common northward.

July--Sept.--Larger and greener than the next, with larger flowers, and less frequent.

2. I. fulva, Nutt. (SPOTTED TOUCH-ME-NOT.) _Flowers orange-color, thickly spotted with reddish-brown_; sac longer than broad, acutely conical, tapering into a _strongly inflexed spur_ half as long as the sac.--Rills and shady moist places; common, especially southward.

June--Sept.--Plant 2--4 high; the flowers loosely panicled, hanging gracefully on their slender nodding stalks, the open mouth of the cornucopiae-shaped sepal upward. Spur rarely wanting. Spotless forms of both species occur.

ORDER 24. RUTaCEae. (RUE FAMILY.)

_Plants with simple or compound leaves, dotted with pellucid glands and abounding with a pungent or bitter-aromatic acrid volatile oil, producing hypogynous almost always regular 3--5-merous flowers, the stamens as many or twice as many as the sepals (rarely more numerous); the 2--5 pistils separate or combined into a compound ovary of as many cells, raised on a prolongation of the receptacle (gynoph.o.r.e) or glandular disk._--Embryo large, curved or straight, usually in fleshy alb.u.men. Styles commonly united or cohering, even when the ovaries are distinct. Fruit usually capsular. Leaves alternate or opposite.

Stipules none.--A large family, chiefly of the Old World and the southern hemisphere; our two indigenous genera are

1. Xanthoxylum. Flowers dicious; ovaries 3--5, separate, forming fleshy pods.

2. Ptelea. Flowers polygamous; ovary 2-celled, forming a samara, like that of Elm.

1. XANTHoXYLUM, L. p.r.i.c.kLY ASH.

Flowers dicious. Sepals 4 or 5, obsolete in one species. Petals 4 or 5, imbricated in the bud. Stamens 4 or 5 in the sterile flowers, alternate with the petals. Pistils 2--5, separate, but their styles conniving or slightly united. Pods thick and fleshy, 2-valved, 1--2-seeded.

Seed-coat crustaceous, black, smooth and s.h.i.+ning. Embryo straight, with broad cotyledons.--Shrubs or trees, with mostly pinnate leaves, the stems and often the leafstalks p.r.i.c.kly. Flowers small, greenish or whitish. (From ?a????, _yellow_, and ?????, _wood_.)

1. X. Americanum, Mill. (NORTHERN p.r.i.c.kLY ASH. TOOTHACHE-TREE.) Leaves and flowers in sessile axillary umbellate cl.u.s.ters; leaflets 2--4 pairs and an odd one, ovate-oblong, downy when young; calyx none; petals 4--5; pistils 3--5, with slender styles; pods short-stalked.--Rocky woods and river-banks; common, especially northward. April, May.--A shrub, with yellowish-green flowers appearing before the leaves. Bark, leaves, and pods very pungent and aromatic.

2. X. Clava-Herculis, L. (SOUTHERN P.) Glabrous; leaflets 3--8 pairs and an odd one, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, oblique, s.h.i.+ning above; flowers in an ample terminal cyme, appearing after the leaves; sepals and petals 5; pistils 2--3, with short styles; pods sessile. (X. Carolinianum, _Lam._)--Sandy coast of Virginia, and southward. June.--A small tree with very sharp p.r.i.c.kles.

2. PTeLEA, L. SHRUBBY TREFOIL. HOP-TREE.

Flowers polygamous. Sepals 3--5. Petals 3--5, imbricated in the bud. Stamens as many. Ovary 2-celled; style short; stigmas 2.

Fruit a 2-celled and 2-seeded samara, winged all round, nearly orbicular.--Shrubs, with 3-foliolate leaves, and greenish-white small flowers in compound terminal cymes. (The Greek name of the Elm, here applied to a genus with similar fruit.)

1. P. trifoliata, L. Leaflets ovate, pointed, downy when young.--Rocky places, Long Island to Minn., and southward. June.--A tall shrub. Fruit bitter, used as a subst.i.tute for hops. Odor of the flowers disagreeable.

AILaNTHUS GLANDULSUS, Desf., called TREE OF HEAVEN,--but whose blossoms, especially the staminate ones, are redolent of anything but "airs from heaven,"--is much planted as a shade-tree, especially in towns, and is inclined to spread from seed. It belongs to the order SIMARUBACEae, which differs from Rutaceae in the absence of dots in the leaves. The tree is known by its very long pinnate leaves of many leaflets, and small polygamous greenish flowers in panicles, the female producing 2--5 thin, linear-oblong, veiny samaras. (Adv. from China.)

ORDER 25. ILICNEae. (HOLLY FAMILY.)

_Trees or shrubs, with small axillary 4--8-merous flowers, a minute calyx free from the 4--8-celled ovary and the 4--8-seeded berry-like drupe, the stamens as many as the divisions of the almost or quite 4--8-petalled corolla and alternate with them, attached to their very base._--Corolla imbricated in the bud. Anthers opening lengthwise.

Stigmas 4--8, or united into one, nearly sessile. Seeds suspended and solitary in each cell, anatropous, with a minute embryo in fleshy alb.u.men. Leaves simple, mostly alternate. Flowers white or greenish.--A small family, nearly related to the Gamopetalous order _Ebenaceae_.

1. Ilex. Petals or corolla-lobes oval or obovate. Pedicels mostly cl.u.s.tered.

2. Nemopanthes. Petals linear. Pedicels solitary.

1. LEX, L. HOLLY.

Flowers more or less diciously polygamous. Calyx 4--6-toothed. Petals 4--6, separate, or united only at the base, oval or obovate, obtuse, spreading. Stamens 4--6. The berry-like drupe containing 4--6 little nutlets.--Leaves alternate. Fertile flowers inclined to be solitary, and the sterile or partly sterile flowers to be cl.u.s.tered in the axils. (The ancient Latin name of the Holly-Oak, rather than of the Holly.)

-- 1. AQUIFLIUM. _Parts of the flower commonly in fours, sometimes in fives or sixes; drupe red, its nutlets ribbed, veiny, or 1-grooved on the back; leaves (mostly smooth) coriaceous and evergreen._

[*] _Leaves armed with spiny teeth; trees._

1. I. opaca, Ait. (AMERICAN HOLLY.) Leaves oval, flat, the wavy margins with scattered spiny teeth; flowers in loose cl.u.s.ters along the base of the young branches and in the axils; calyx-teeth acute.--Moist woodlands, Maine to Va., near the coast, and more common southward.

June.--Tree 20--40 high; the deep green foliage less glossy than in the European Holly (I. AQUIFOLIUM, _L._), the berries not so bright red, and nutlets not so veiny.

[*][*] _Leaves serrate or entire, not spiny; shrubs._

2. I. Ca.s.sne, L. (Ca.s.sENA. YAUPON.) _Leaves lance-ovate or elliptical, crenate_ (1--1' long); flower-cl.u.s.ters nearly sessile, smooth; _calyx-teeth obtuse_.--Virginia and southward along the coast.

May.--Leaves used for tea by the people along the coast, as they were to make the celebrated _black drink_ of the North Carolina Indians.

3. I. Dahon, Walt. (DAHOON HOLLY.) _Leaves oblanceolate or oblong, entire, or sharply serrate_ toward the apex, with revolute margins (2--3' long), the _midrib and peduncles p.u.b.escent; calyx-teeth acute_.--Swamps, coast of Va. and southward. May, June.

Var. myrtiflia, Chapm. Leaves smaller (1' long or less) and narrower.

(I. myrtifolia, _Walt._)--Same habitat. May.

-- 2. PRINODES. _Parts of the (polygamous or dicious) flowers in fours or fives (rarely in sixes); drupe red or purple, the nutlets striate-many-ribbed on the back; leaves deciduous; shrubs._