344 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



tures, of a light green above, paler and finely reticulated be- 

 neath. 



The flowers are very small, on long, slender, thread-like 

 stalks, solitary or in bunches, at the base of a tuft of leaves or 

 a young branch. The calyx is so small that it seems to be 

 wanting. The corolla consists of four oblong, narrow petals, 

 of pale white, which soon fall. The four stamens alternate 

 with the petals, with rather large anthers on long, slender fila- 

 ments. The berry is as large as a pea, of a beautiful pale crim- 

 son color, ripe in August, and contains four, somewhat prisma- 

 tic, stony nuts, in a yellowish pulp. It is supported by a stalk 

 of the same color, an inch or more long. The flowers expand 

 in May and June. 



The Nemopanthus is found in almost all the low, wet woods 

 in the vicinity of Boston and on the southern side of Massachu- 

 setts Bay, and in the middle of the State. It is found in Cana- 

 da, throughout New England, and in New York and Michigan. 



XVI. 3. THE WINTER BERRY. PRINOS. L. 



The winter berry is a genus of twelve or thirteen species of 

 shrubs, some of them evergreen, some deciduous, natives of 

 North America. They differ from the two preceding genera in 

 having their calyx and corolla usually six-parted, with six sta- 

 mens, and a berry with six seeds. Some of the most beautiful 

 are natives of Massachusetts, and these, with a few others, are 

 cultivated in Europe as ornamental shrubs. The three found 

 here are the Black Alder, P. rerticilldlas, with flowers and fruit 

 in clusters in the axil of the leaves ; the Single-berry Black 

 Alder, P. kevigatus, with its flowers and fruits larger and soli- 

 tary ; and the Ink-berry, P. gldber, with evergreen leaves. 



Sp. 1. The Black Alder. P. veriicilldtus. L. 



Figured in Bigelovv's Medical Botany, Plate 56. 



A handsome shrub, five or six, rarely ten or twelve, feet high, 

 with crowded branches and leaves, conspicuous for its bunches 

 of axillary blossoms, and of scarlet berries, remaining late in the 

 autumn or even into the winter. The recent shoots are clothed 



