green, smooth and shining,
glandular-serrate. Twigs often covered with corky ridges. A large,
beautiful tree, 30 to 70 ft. high, with deeply furrowed bark.
Connecticut, west and south; abundant south of 40 deg. N. Lat. Well worthy
of more extensive cultivation than it has yet received.

ORDER =XX. LYTHRACEAE.=

(LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY.)

A small order of shrubs, herbs, or trees; mainly tropical.

GENUS =42. PUNICA.=

Leaves simple, usually opposite, deciduous; flowers scarlet, with 5
petals and numerous stamens; fruit a many-seeded berry.

[Illustration: P. granatum.]

=Punica granatum=, L. (POMEGRANATE-TREE.) Leaves opposite, lanceolate,
smooth, entire; flowers large, both calyx and corolla scarlet and very
ornamental; the fruit as large as an orange, fine-flavored. A
tree-shaped plant, growing to the height of 20 ft. in the Southern
States. If given some protection, it can be grown as far north as
Washington. It has been cultivated from the earliest times, and is
probably a native of western Asia.

GENUS =43. LAGERSTROEMIA.=

Flowers with 6 long-clawed petals inserted on the broadly spreading
calyx; fruit 3- to 6-celled pods with many winged seeds.

[Illustration: L. Indica.]

=Lagerstroemia Indica=, L. (CRAPE-MYRTLE.) Leaves roundish-ovate,
thick, smooth, short-petiolate; branches winged; flowers in terminal
clusters with large, delicately crisped, long-stemmed petals of pink,
purple, and other colors. A beautiful small tree, or usually a shrub,
from India; often cultivated in the North in conservatories; hardy as
far north as Washington.

ORDER =XXI. ARALIACEAE.= (GINSENG FAMILY.)

A small order of herbs, shrubs, and trees, here represented by the
following genus:

GENUS =44. ARALIA.=

Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with pinnately or palmately compound leaves;
here including Acanthopanax with palmately cleft leaves. Flowers whitish
or greenish, in umbels, often forming large panicles. Fruit small,
berry-like, several-celled, several-seeded.

* Leaves 2 to 3 times odd-pinnate (Aralia proper) 1, 2.

* Leaves simple, palmately cleft (Acanthopanax) 3.

[Illustration: A. spinosa.]

1. =Aralia spinosa=, L. (ANGELICA-TREE. HERCULES'-CLUB.) Leaves large,
crowded at the summit of the stem, twice or sometimes thrice
odd-pinnate, usually prickly, with sessile, ovate, acuminate, deeply
serrate leaflets, glaucous beneath. Large panicles of small whitish
flowers in