CAPRIFOLIACEAE 259 



more or less densely with rusty red tomentum. The leaves are 

 very thick, elliptic to obovate, and often carry a pair of stipular 

 leaves about 14 inch in diameter. The blades are generally 

 about 2 inches wide by 3 inches long, acute or rounded at the 

 apex, and have the margins finely serrate to very near the 

 base, which extends downward along the petiole to form a 

 narrow but distinct wing on each side of the petiole. The sur- 

 face is smooth and glossy above and smooth beneath or covered 

 more or less densely, especially on the veins, with rusty to- 

 mentum. 



The white flowers, which appear in June, are borne in ter- 

 minal, nearly sessile cymes. There commonly are 4 neutral 

 flow^ers in each cyme. The fruit, which matures in October, 

 is black, bloom covered, edible, usually oblong, and about Y2 

 inch long. It contains a broadly oval, flat stone with a low 

 ridge in the center of one surface and a groove on the oppo- 

 site face. 



Distribution. — The Southern Blackhaw is a shrub which 

 grows on wooded and often rocky slopes from Virginia and 

 southern Illinois south to Florida and Texas. In Illinois, it 

 is confined to the southern part of the state, ranging from 

 the Ohio River northward to the Ozarks, on the eastern side 

 of the state along the Wabash valley as far north as Lawrence 

 County, and on the western side along the Mississippi and 

 Illinois river valleys as far north as Jersey County. 



VIBURNUM PRUNIFOLIUM Linnaeus 



Blackhaw 



The Blackhaw, fig. 69, is a shrub or sometimes a small tree 

 6 to 24 feet high with smooth branches and branchlets, which 

 bear ovate to broadly oval leaves that are obtuse to acute at 

 the apex and narrowed or rounded at the base, 1 to 3 inches 

 long, and very finely serrate on the margins. The surface is 

 glabrous or nearly so, both above and below, as are the peti- 

 oles also. 



The flowers are borne in sessile or very short-stalked cymes 

 2 to 4 inches broad, which bear several neutral flowers along 

 with the fertile flowers, which open at about the same time 

 that the leaves expand. The fruit, ripe in September, is an 

 oval, bluish-black, bloom-covered, sweet and edible drupe up 



