region, especially in
damp swamps in the Alleghany Mountains; occasionally cultivated.

GENUS =53. CLETHRA.=

Shrubs or trees with alternate, simple, deciduous, exstipulate, serrate
leaves. Flowers (July and August) conspicuous, white, in elongated
terminal racemes which are covered with a whitish powder. Fruit 3-celled
pods with many seeds, covered by the calyx.

* Leaves thin, large, 3 to 7 in. long, pale beneath 1.

* Leaves thickish, smaller, green both sides 2.

[Illustration: C. acuminata.]

1. =Clethra acuminata=, Michx. (ACUMINATE-LEAVED CLETHRA. SWEET
PEPPER-BUSH.) Leaves 3 to 7 in. long, oval to oblong, pointed, thin,
abruptly acute at base, finely serrate, on slender petioles, smooth
above and glaucous below. Racemes drooping, of sweet-scented flowers,
with the bracts longer than the flowers. Filaments and pod hairy. A
small tree or shrub, 10 to 20 ft. high, in the Alleghanies, Virginia,
and south. Not often in cultivation, but well worthy of it.

[Illustration: C. alnifolia.]

2. =Clethra alnifolia=, L. (COMMON SWEET PEPPER-BUSH.) Leaves
wedge-obovate, sharply serrate near the apex, entire near the base,
straight-veined, smooth, green on both sides. Racemes erect, often
compound, with bracts shorter than the flowers and with smooth
filaments. This is a shrub rather than a tree; abundant in wet places
east of the Alleghanies. Occasionally cultivated for its sweet-scented
flowers.

ORDER =XXVI. SAPOTACEAE.=

(SAPODILLA FAMILY.)

A small order, mainly of tropical plants, here including one genus found
only in the southern part of our range.

GENUS =54. BUMELIA.=

Leaves simple, alternate, entire, sub-evergreen, exstipulate; branches
often spiny. Flowers small, whitish, usually crowded in fascicles. Fruit
a black cherry-like drupe with a 2- to 3-celled nut. Shrubs and trees of
the Southern States. Two species (although hardly trees) are found far
enough north to be included in this work.

* Leaves rusty-woolly beneath 1.

* Leaves smooth or slightly silky beneath 2.

[Illustration: B. lanuginosa.]

1. =Bumelia lanuginosa=, Pers. (WOOLLY-LEAVED BUCKTHORN.) Leaves
oblong-obovate, obtuse, entire, smooth above and rusty-woolly beneath,
but not silky; spiny, with downy branchlets. Clusters 6- to 12-flowered,
pubescent; flowers greenish-yellow. Fruit globular and quite large (1/2
i