no FLO WERI.YG SIIR C/BS. 



Rei)-I!Krried Elder. — Sai/ibiui/s pubeiis, (Michx.) 



The red-fruited Elder is often confounded by ignorant persons with 

 the R/iits Toxicodendron^ to which the names of Poison Elder, Poison 

 Oak, and Poison Ivy have been given, thus transferring the evil qualities 

 of the poisonous Rhus to a perfectly harmless shrubby tree, which 

 deserves to be redeemed from such slanders. The Red-berried Elder 

 is widely distributed over the Dominion of Canada. 



In every waste place ; on old neglected fallows which have been 

 subjected to the ravages of fire ; in corners of fences, and even in 

 gardens, if care be not taken to ruthlessly root out the intruder, this 

 hardy native may be found. The panicles of greenish-white 

 flowers may be seen in the month of May, among black and 

 burnt stumps, and girdled Pines, enlivening the coarse verdure of the 

 dull-green, pinnated leaves, and grey warty branches ; the flowers of this 

 species, as well as those of the Black- berried Elder, S. Canadensis, (L.) 

 emit a faint but sickly odour. The flowers of the latter species are 

 whiter, borne in much larger and flatter cymes, and do not appear until 

 June. 



The embryo blossoms of the Red Elder are formed soon after the 

 fall of the leaf in October, and may be distinctly seen in the large 

 'globular buds which adorn the bare branches in Winter ; they are 

 closely packed within the protecting cases, like hard-green seeds, each 

 flower-bud perfect as if ready to unfold in the first warm sunshine ; but 

 not so, for the embryo flower must lie dormant in its cradle till the next 

 Spring, when the warmth of the May sunshine opens it out to life and 

 light. The blossoms are succeeded by an abundance of small berries, 

 which, during the month of June, ripen, and adorn the landscape with their 

 brilliant scarlet hues. The juice of the ripe fruit is a thin acid, slightly 

 partaking of the peculiar flavour of the wood, not agreeable, but perfectly 

 wholesome. The gay berries are a favourite food witli wild birds, which 

 soon strip the trees of their ornamental clusters. 



Twin-Elowered H0NEV-SUCK.1.E. — Lonicera ciliata, (Muhl.) 



Though we have not, in Canada, the sweet-scented and 

 graceful Woodbine of the bowery English lanes and hedge-rows — the 

 theme of many a poet's lay — from Shakespeare and Milton down to 

 Bloomfield and Clare — yet we have some charming flowering slirubs 

 that are too lovely to be disregarded by the lover of Nature. Among 

 our wild native species, there is not one more elegant than the Twin- 

 flowered Honey-suckle, or Bush Honey-suckle. It is one of the earliest 

 of our shrubs to unfold its tender light-green leaves. A few warm days 



