1 72 CELASTRACEAE 



5 sepals, 5 petals, 5 stamens and a compound pistil consisting of 

 2 to 4 cells capped by a short, stout style and a 2- to 4-lobed 

 stigma. The capsule is globose or ellipsoid, leathery, and 2- to 

 4-celled, and at maturity it splits down the back of the middle 

 of each cell. In each cavity there are 1 to 2 seeds surrounded 

 by a scarlet aril. 



There are more than 30 bittersweet species, chiefly native 

 in southern and eastern Asia and Australia. The species 

 described here is the only one native in North America. 



CELASTRUS SCANDENS Linnaeus ' 

 American Bittersweet 



The American Bittersweet, fig. 41, is a twining vine with 

 stems up to 6 inches in circumference and as much as 35 feet 

 long. The branches are smooth and gray or brown, and the 

 branchlets, green at first, are smooth and become gray by 

 the end of the season. The leaves are oval, ovate, or obovate, 

 with blades up to 6 inches long and half as wide, and petioles 

 which are variable in length and up to ^4 inch long. The leaf 

 blade is acute or acuminate at the apex, usually narrowed at 

 the base to the petiole, though sometimes rounded, crenulate 

 on the margin, and smooth both above and beneath. 



The flowers, which appear in May and June, are greenish 

 yellow and stand in racemes or panicles 1^4 to 2 inches long, 

 which frequently are terminal on the branchlets. The fruit, 

 which matures in late autumn, is a globular, brilliant orange 

 capsule about 14 i^^ch in diameter, which breaks open by 3 

 valves to expose the crimson arils w^hich surround the seed. 

 Generally, in each aril there are 2 reddish-brown seeds about 

 ys inch long. 



DiSTRiBUTiox. — The American Bittersweet prefers a rich, 

 moist soil, but grows in all kinds of soil and also in dry situa- 

 tions. It ranges from Manitoba southeastward to North 

 Carolina and Tennessee and southwestward into New Mexico. 

 It occurs throughout the state of Illinois, excepting only areas 

 that are natural prairie. With the removal of most of the 

 original forest, it has adapted itself to some extent as a fence- 

 row inhabitant. In the fall the fruit of this vine is collected 

 and sold in towns and cities as indoor decoration for the winter 

 months. 



