CORNACEAE. 261 
HELWINGIA. 
(Family Cornaceae). 
Shrubs: deciduous. Twigs ter- 
ete, rather slender: pith relatively 
large, round, continuous, very 
white. Buds solitary, sessile, 
small, ovoid, with 2 scales. Leaf- 
scars alternate, crescent-shaped, 
somewhat raised: bundle-trace 1, 
transverse or slightly curved: 
stipule-scars minute, round. 
By common consent, Helwingia 
is now placed in the Cornaceae, 
but the Standard Cyclopedia fol- 
lows the usually excellent judg- 
ment of Bentham and Hooker in 
placing it in the related family 
Araliaceae. ‘ 
Winter-character references to 
Helwingia japonica: — Schneider, 
f. 124; Shirasawa, 242, 250, pl. 5. 
The specific name wruscifolia, 
which is a synonym of japonica, 
indicates a peculiarity recalling the genus Ruscus of 
the Liliaceae; for the flowers of Helwingia are _ clus- 
tered on the surface of its leaves. There is this im- 
portant difference, though, that in Helwingia what are 
called leaves are really leaves, while in Ruscus they are leaf- 
like branches of the stem, developed in the axils of small 
scales which are morphologically the true leaves. The in- 
florescence of Helwingia is comparable with that of Tilia with 
its adnate bract,—except that here the really axillary flower- 
cluster has grown into attachment to a foliage leaf, while in 
Tilia the leaf is reduced to a bract. 
Glabrous, with occasional rather large lenticels. H. japonica. 
