NYSSA
- Nyssa, Linnæus, Gen. Pl. 308 (1737); Bentham et Hooker, Gen. Fl. i. 952 (1867); Harms in Engler u. Prantl, Planzenfam. iii. 8, 257 (1898).
- Tupelo, Adanson, Fam. Pl. ii. 80 (1763).
- Ceratostachys, Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 644 (1825).
- Agathisanthes, Blume, doc. cit. 645.
- Daphniphyllopsis, Kurz, Journ. Astat. Soc. 1875, ii. 201.
Deciduous trees or shrubs belonging to the order Cornaceæ. Leaves alternate simple, stalked, with margin entire or remotely one- to four-toothed, without stipules. Branchlets with discoid pith.
Flowers small, dicecious or polygamous, borne at the summit of axillary peduncles, the staminate flowers numerous in heads, umbels, or short racemes, the pistillate and perfect flowers solitary or aggregated in two- to eight-flowered heads, umbels, or short racemes. Staminate flowers: calyx short, flat or cup-shaped, five- to seven-toothed or entire; petals five to seven or ten to fourteen ; stamens five to ten, inserted on the margin of an entire or lobed disc; filaments slender, anthers oblong. Pistillate flowers: calyx campanulate or urceolate, five-toothed or entire; petals four to five, seldom three or six to eight ; stamens absent or equal in number to the petals and alternating with them, bearing fruitful or barren anthers ; ovary coalesced with the receptacle, crowned above by a disc, one- rarely two-celled, one ovule in each cell; style one, recurved, stigmatic along one side near the apex. Fruit a drupe, oblong or ovoid, urceolate at the apex; flesh thin, oily; stone bony, thick-walled, terete or compressed, ridged or winged, one- or rarely two-celled, containing one seed, which has a membranous testa and copious albumen. Cotyledons flat and leafy.
The alternate stalked simple leaves, entire and ciliate in margin; and the branchlets with true terminal buds, without stipules or their scars, showing on section the peculiar discoid pith, are characteristic of Nyssa.
Seven species of Nyssa have been described:—Nyssa sessiliflora, Hooker, a tree attaining 60 feet in the Himalayas and Java; has not been introduced and would probably not be hardy in England. Nyssa sinensis, Oliver, has recently been intro- duced from Central China. The remaining five species are natives of Eastern North America. Nyssa acuminata, Small, a species imperfectly known, is a small shrub growing in pineland swamps in Georgia. Nyssa Ogeche, Marshall, a tree of moderate size, occurring in river swamps in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, is unknown in cultivation outside of its native home, and would probably not grow in England.
Nyssa biflora, Walter, a small tree, growing in ponds, from North Carolina to
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