DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 139 
above, paler and sometimes slightly downy beneath. Peduncles 
short, bracted. Flowers 4-parted, staminate flowers in small cymes, 
the pistillate usually solitary. Fruit bright red. Damp, sandy soil 
E. and S.* 
2. I. decidua, Walt. Decipvuous Hoty. Small trees; twigs 
smooth. Leaves thin, obovate, obtuse or sometimes acute at the 
apex, scalloped, smooth, deciduous. Flowers in sessile clusters, 
4-6 parted. Fruits very numerous, bright red. On low ground S.* 
3. I. verticillata, Gray. BuAck ALDER, WINTERBERRY. A much- 
branched shrub 6-8 ft. high. Leaves thin, oval or obovate, taper- 
pointed, serrate, 14-2 in. long. Flowers greenish-white, on very 
short peduncles. Fruit bright red, 1, 2, or 3 in a leaf-axil, remain- 
ing long after the leaves have fallen. Swampy ground and damp 
woods and thickets. 
56. CELASTRACEZ. STAFF-TREE FAMILY. 
Trees or shrubs, sometimes climbing. Leaves simple, oppo- 
site or alternate. Flowers small, in cymes. Calyx small, 
4—5-lobed, persistent. Petals 4-6, short. Stamens 4-6, 
alternate with the petals and inserted with them on a disk. 
Ovary sessile, 3-5-celled ; style entire or 3—5-cleft; ovules 2 
in each cell. Seeds usually covered with an appendage (aril) 
growing from the hilum. 
I. CELASTRUS, L. 
A woody, twining shrub. Leaves alternate. Flowers 
dicecious or somewhat moncecious, small, greenish, clustered 
at the ends of the branches. Pod 3-celled, 3-valved, looking 
like an orange-colored berry, which on opening shows the 
scarlet arils of the seeds. 
1. C. scandens, L. WaAx-work, CLIMBING BITTERSWEET. 
Climbing 10-15 ft. Leaves ovate-oblong, 2-4 in. long, finely ser- 
rate, taper-pointed. In thickets and along fences, also planted for 
the showy scarlet seeds, which retain their color for many months. 
Il. EVONYMUS, Tourn. 
Shrubs with 4-angled branches. Leaves opposite. Flowers 
in axillary, peduncled cymes, purplish or greenish, small. 
