CALYCANTHACEÆ. A natural order of shrubs, with square stems, having four woody axes surrounding the central one. Flowers solitary, lurid; calyx of numerous coloured sepals compounded with the petals. Leaves opposite, entire, exstipulate. The two genera known are Calycanthus and Chimonanthus.
CALYCANTHUS (from kalyx, kalykos, a calyx, and anthos, a flower; in reference to the calyx being coloured, and appearing like a corolla). Allspice. ORD. Calycanthaceæ. A genus of hardy, deciduous, North American shrubs. Flowers lurid purple, axillary, and terminal, stalked, sweet-scented; stamens numerous. Leaves opposite, oval or ovate-lanceolate, entire, generally rough on the surface; sweet-scented. All are handsome and well worth growing. They thrive best in a peaty compost, but grow freely in almost any soil. Increased by layers, put down in the summer; or by seed, sown as soon as ripe, or in spring, in a cold frame.
C. floridus (Floridan).* Carolina Allspice. fl. with a sweet apple scent. May. l. ovate, downy beneath, as well as the branchlets. Branches spreading. Wood and roots smelling strongly of camphor. h. 4ft. to 6ft. Carolina, 1726. See Fig. 332. (B. M. 503.) There are several varieties of this species.
FIG. 332. FLOWERING BRANCH OF CALYCANTHUS FLORIDUS.
C. glaucus (glaucous).* fl. lurid purple, not strongly scented. May. l. ovate-lanceolate, acuminated, glaucous and pubescent beneath. h. 4ft. to 6ft. Carolina, 1726. SYN. C. fertilis. (B. R. 404.) C. oblongifolius is a variety with ovate-lanceolate elongated leaves.
FIG. 333. FLOWERING BRANCH OF CALYCANTHUS LÆVIGATUS.
C. lævigatus (smooth-leaved).* fl. lurid purple. May. l. oblong, thin, either blunt or taper-pointed, bright green, and glabrous, or nearly so, on both sides, or rather pale beneath. Branches strictly erect. h. 3ft. to 6ft. Mountains of Pennsylvania, &c., 1806. See Fig. 333. (B. R. 481.)
C. macrophyllus (large-leaved). A garden synonym of C. occidentalis.
C. occidentalis (Western).* fl. brick-red, sweet-scented, 3in. to 4in. across, each petal about 2in. long and ½in. broad. June to October. l. oblong or ovate-cordate, acuminate, slightly pubescent on the veins only beneath. h. 6ft. to 12ft. California, 1831. In California, this is called the Sweet-scented Shrub. SYN. C. macrophyllus, of gardens. (B. M. 4808.)