MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 343 



A tall shrub consisting of a single stout stem covered with 

 long sharp spines, which are extremely poisonous. It usually 

 grows about six or eight feet high, and has huge palm-like 

 leaves, which are also prickly. The flowers grow in a dense 

 cluster at the top of the stem, and in time turn into bright 

 red berries. 



This plant should be carefully avoided in the forests. It 

 has been rightly named " Devil's Club," since no human 

 being may touch it with impunity. 



RED-STEMMED DOGWOOD 



Coj'Jtus stolonifera. Dogwood Family 



Stems : red. Leaves : slender-petioled, ovate, acuminate at the apex, 

 rounded at the base, entire. Flowers: in cymes, flat-topped; petals white. 

 Fruit : globose, blue. 



A handsome shrub, with bright red stems and numerous 

 flat-topped clusters of pretty little greenish-w^hite flowers, 

 which have a very fragrant odour. The Western Indians call 

 it Kin7iikin7iic, and dry and use the inner bark in place of 

 tobacco ; while the half-breeds of the plains call it Hajvtige, 

 signifying "a red switch." 



RED-BERRIED ELDER 



Savibucus raceniosa. Honeysuckle Family 



Stems: woody. Leaves: pinnately compound; leaflets lanceolate, acu- 

 minate at the apex, sharply serrate. Flowers: in thyrsoid cymes, white 

 to yellowish. Fruit: small, scarlet. 



This shrub, which grows from ten to thirty feet high and 

 has spreading branches and ample foliage, is widely distributed 

 over the continent. In fields and forests, by the roadsides 

 and in neglected gardens, you will find it springing up and 

 thriving with undaunted hardihood amid the most barren sur- 

 roundings. It also grows at many elevations, being seen in 



