FLOWERING SHRUBS. 135 



height of eight and ten feet. The numerous and showy flowers are of 

 a somewhat purpHsh tinge of pink and are borne in corymbs ; the leaves 

 are whitish underneath. This rose is armed with stout hooked prickles 

 below, on the old woody stem, but is smoother above ; the flowers are 

 more clustered than in the other species. 



The Sweet Briar is often found growing in waste places, and in 

 thickets near clearings — no doubt the seed has been carried thither by 

 those unconscious husbandmen, the wild birds and the Squirrels that 

 feed upon the heps as they ripen. The leaves retain for some time their 

 sweet fragrance, that is so delicious. 



There is a delicate, pale-flowered Sweet Briar Rose, Rosa //licraiitha, 

 (Smith) having small foliage and numerous blossoms ; stems low and 

 branching and covered with hooked prickles, which has been found 

 growing on the high Oak-hills in the township of Rawdon ; and which, 

 I am informed, is not uncommon in similar localities in Western Canada. 



Wax-work — Climbing Bittersweet — Celastrus scandeus, (L.) 



This highly ornamental climber, with its clusters of conspicuous 

 berries, is a great adornment to open woods during the late autumnal 

 months, and indeed all through the winter, twining round the stems of 

 slender saplings of White Birch, Cherry, Ash, and Elm, not unfrequently 

 clinging so closely to its supporter as to form an intimate union with 

 the bark, its own smooth, slender stem, in serpent-like coils, forming 

 graceful volutes round the column of the unfortunate tree which suffers 

 from the close embrace that stops the free circulation of the sap in its 

 upward ascent to the branches. The Climbing Bittersweet is a rapid 

 grower, and consequently a bold enemy that takes forcible possession 

 of any young sapling which comes within its reach ; a very Old Man of 

 the Sea that, once fixed, no blast of wind can shake off But while we 

 take the liberty of railing at the unconscious intruder, we must not omit 

 to dwell upon its good qualities. Its brilliant scarlet arils (coverings of 

 the seeds) and orange fruit that in profusion ornament the tree about 

 which it twines, enliven the dull woods at a season when bright tints 

 have ceased to charm the eye, and all the glories of Maple, Cherry, 

 Birch, Ash and Beech lie mouldering on the ground at our feet, we may 

 then look upwards to some slender silvery- barked Birch or grey Butternut 

 and admire the gorgeous scarlet festoons that hang so gracefully among 

 the naked, leafless branches. The plant, too, is very attractive in its 

 spring verdure. The delicate leaves are ovate-oblong, narrowing towards 

 the point, finely serrated, alternate ; the flowers in raceme-like clusters 

 are yellowish-green, followed by round, smooth, berry-like pods which 

 •deepen, as the summer advances, from yellow to orange and from 



