NAT. ORDER. 



DumoscB. 



PKINOS VERTICILLATUS. WINTER BERRY. 



Class VI. Hexandria. Order I. Monogynia. 



Gen. Char. Cali/.r, Perianth inferior, of one leaf, six-cleft half way 

 down, flat very small, permanent. Corolla, of one petal, wheel- 

 shaped. Tube, none. Limb, flat, deeply cloven into six orate 

 segments. Slamen, filaments, six awl-shaped, erect, shorter than 

 the Corolla. Anthers, oblong", obtuse. Gcrmen, superior, orate, 

 terminating in a style shorter than die Stamens. Stigma, obtuse. 

 Berry, roundish, six-celled, much larger than the Calyx. Seeds, 

 solitary, bony, obtuse, convex on one side, angular on the other. 



Spe. Char. Calyx, inferior, six cleft. Corolla, wheel-shaped, and 

 from three to seven cleft. 



" The stem is shrubby, and branched all the way up ; the bran- 

 ches are alternate, horizontal, spreading, and of a bluish grey or ash- 

 color ; the extremities, or new shoots, being g-reenish ; die leaves are 

 oval, tapering at their base, ending in a point, and sawed on their 

 edges ; they are of a dark, or somewhat olive-green color, and smooth 

 above, but downy on the nei-ves and veins beneath, alternately ; they 

 are alternately aiTanged along the branches, and are supported by 

 short foot-stalks ; the Jloiccrs are often dioicous, small and white, and 

 grow together in axillary and lateral groups of from three to foiu- in 

 number, rarely solitary ; the corolla is monopetalous, rotate, six and 

 sometimes seven cleft ; the stamens are generally six in number ; the 

 berries are globular, and vaiy a litde in size, as represented in the 

 plate, but are generally of the magnitude of a marrowfat pea. As 

 winter advances, they become of a more puiplish color. That the 



Vol. IV. — 40. 



