140 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 



72. CELASTRACE^. STAFF-TREE FAMILY. 



Shrubs, sometimes climbing ; leaves simple, alternate or 

 opposite, stipulate ; flowers small, regular, perfect ; calyx 

 4-5-x)arted, persistent ; petals 4-5 ; stamens 4-5, alternate 

 with the petals and inserted with them on the disk ; ovary 

 1, carpels 2-5, styles exsertedj fruit a 2-5-celled pod, seeds 

 ariled. 



EUONYMUS. 



Shrubs with 4-angled branches ; leaves opposite ; flowers 

 in axillary, peduncled cymes, purplish or greenish, small ; 

 sepals and petals 4-5, spreading ; stamens as many as the 

 petals, short ; ovary 3-5-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell ; 

 seeds enclosed in a red, fleshy aril. 



1. E. Americanus L. Strawberry Bush. A shrub 3-8 ft- 

 high ; leaves short-petioled, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acute or acunii- 

 iiate at the apex, finely serrulate, smooth or slightly hairy ; peduncles 

 axillary, slender, l-o-flowered; flowers greenish; capsule o-5-augled, 

 warty. May-June. In low, shady woods. 



2. E. ATROPURPUREUS Jacq. Wahoo. a tree-like shrub 10-15 

 ft. high ; leaves oval to ovate, acuunuate, finely serrulate, puberulent, 

 petioles ^-| in. long; peduncles slender, o-forked, several flowered; 

 flower purplish ; capsule deeply 3-4-lobed, smooth. May- June. 

 River banks. 



73. ACERACEiE. ISIAPLE FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, with watery, often saccharine sap ; leaves 

 opposite, simple and palmately lobed, or pinnate, exstipu- 

 late ; flowers regular, mostly polygamous or dioecious, in 

 axillary and terminal cymes or racemes; calyx 4-9-parted; 

 petals as many as the lobes of the calyx or none ; stamens 

 4-12, hypogynous ; ovary 2-celled, styles 2 ; fruit a double 

 samara. 



