CELASTRACEAE STAFF TREE FAMILY 
BURNING BUSH. WAAHOO 
Euonymus atropurpureus Jacq. 
The Burning Bush or Waahoo is a shrub or small tree 6-26 
feet high, which has greenish 4-angled twigs. It is found mostly 
in open woods from Ontario to Florida and westward to Mon- 
tana, Nebraska and 
Oklahoma. 
Because of the 
numerous dark pur- 
ple flowers that open 
in June and the bril- 
liant scarlet fruits 
that mature in aut- 
umn, the Burning 
Bush is highly recom- 
mended for planting 
as an ornamental 
shrub. The flower 
usually has 4 sepals 
united at the base, 
and 4 purple petals. 
The 4 stamens are 
attached to the 4-angled disk that is stretched from the calyx 
over the ovary. The style is very short or lacking. 
The crimson fruit is a 4-lobed pod with 1 or 2 seeds in each 
lobe. Each seed is enclosed in a bright red outgrowth or pulp 
called an aril, and when the pod bursts these arils are exposed 
and so increase the beauty of the display. The fruits hang on 
nearly all winter unless eaten by birds. 
The Running Strawberry Bush or Creeping Waahoo, Euonymus 
obovatus Nutt., is another species common in moist woods through- 
out the state. It is a low trailing shrub which roots from the branches 
and seldom rises more than 1 foot from the ground. The obovate 
or oblong leaves are thin and dull. The parts of the greenish flowers, 
which bloom in April and May, are usually in fives. The petals do 
not have a distinct claw. The crimson fruits are rough with warts 
on the outside. This is a good plant to use for covering the ground 
under trees, since it an grow in the shade and forms dense mats. 
The plant is known from western Ontario to Pennsylvania, Ken- 
tucky and Illinois. 
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