68 CELASTRACE^. 



Rocky woods. Can. to Car. (Not below the Highlands in N.Y. Torr.) W. 

 to Ark. April. — Shrub, 3 — 5 feet high, covered with sharp strong prickles. 

 Leaves pinnate, sometimes prickly on the back. Flowers in umbels, small, green- 

 ish, appearing before the leaves. The bark of this shrub is pungent, and is em- 

 ployed medicmally. Big. Med. Bot. iii. 156. P richly Ash. 



2. PTELEA. Z/mw.— Shrubby TrefoU. • 



(The Greek name of the dm, from a root wliich alludes to the winged seed 

 vessels.) 



Polygamo-dioecious. Sepals 3 — 6, (usually 4,) small. iPetals 

 much longer than the sepals. Stamens alternating with the 

 petals. Torus tumid, pentagonal. Ovary 1 ; style short; stig- 

 mas 2. Samarse membranaceous, margined, 2-celled ; cells 2- 

 or by abortion 1 -seeded. 



PL trifoliata Linn. : leaves on long petioles, ternate ; leafets sessile, 

 ovate, acuminate, odd one much attenuated at base ; flowers in panicles, 

 polygamous, mostly with 4 stamens. 



Moist woods. Can, to Geor. W. to Miss, and Texas. June. — Shrub 6 — 10 

 feet high. Flowers greenish- white, small, in corymbose clusters. 



Shrubby Trefoil. 



Subclass IL— CALCYFLORALS. 



Calyx with the sepals more or less united at base, (gamosep- 

 alous, J). C— monophyllous, Linn.) Petals and stamens in- 

 .serted into the calyx. 



Order XXXIII. CELASTRACE^.— Spindle Trees. 



Sepals 4 or 5, imbricated, inserted into the margin of a large 

 expanded disk. Petals 4 — 5, imbricate. Stamens alternate, 

 with the petals, inserted upon the margin or upper surface of 

 the disk. Ovary free, 2 — 5 -celled. Fruit capsular or drupace- 

 ous. Seeds often with an aril ; albumen fleshy. — Small trees 

 or shrubs, with simple leaves and small caducous stipules. 



1. EVONYMUS. Linn.— ST^indle Tree. 



(From Euonyme, mother to the Furies, in allusion to the injurious efTects pro- 

 duced by the fruit of this plant. Hook. Br. Fl.) 



Calyx 4 — 5 -cleft, having a peltate disk within. Petals 4 — 5. 

 Stamens inserted upon glands at the margin of the disk. Cap- 

 sule wdth 3 — 5 angles and as many cells and valves. Seeds 

 covered with a colored fleshy aril. 



1. E. Americanus Linn.: branches opposite, smooth, square; leaves op- 

 posite, subsessile, varying from elliptic-lanceolate to oval-obovate ; smooth, 



