2. =Clèthra alnifòlia=, 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. SAPOTÀCEÆ.= (SAPODILLA FAMILY.) A small order, mainly of tropical plants, here including one genus found only in the southern part of our range. GENUS =54. BUMÈLIA.= 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. lanuginòsa.] 1. =Bumèlia lanuginòsa=, 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 (½ in.), black, edible. A small tree, 10 to 40 ft. high, of the woods of southern Illinois and southward. With slight protection it can be cultivated in Massachusetts. [Illustration: B. lycioìdes.] 2. =Bumèlia lycioìdes=, Pers. (SOUTHERN BUCKTHORN.) Leaves 2 to 4 in. long, oval-lanceolate, usually bluntish with a tapering base and entire margin, deciduous, a little silky beneath when young. Clusters densely many-flowered (20 to 30); flowers small (1/6 in.), smooth, greenish-white. May, June. A spiny shrub or tree, 10 to 25 ft. high, in moist ground, Virginia, west and south. About as hardy as the preceding species. ORDER =XXVII. EBENÀCEÆ.= (EBONY FAMILY.) A small order of mostly tropical trees and shrubs. GENUS =55. DIOSPYROS.= Trees or shrubs with alternate, simple, entire, feather-veined leaves. Flowers small, inconspicuous, mostly dioecious. Fruit a globose berry with the 5-lobed thick calyx at the base, and with 8 to 12, occasionally 1 to 5, rather large seeds; ripe after frost. [Illustration: D. Virginiàna.]