] 66 CELASTRACEAE 



end of short spurs. The blades are 1)4 to 4 inches long by 

 about J/^ to 1^ inches wide, generally thin, and for the most 

 part blunt and mucronate, although sometimes acute. They are 

 narrowed at the base, and the margins are entire or rarely show 

 a few teeth. Both the leaves and the petioles are smooth above 

 and below. 



The flowers, which appear in May, are solitary or in clusters 

 up to 4 in number. They stand on pedicels about 1 inch long. 

 The fruit, which ripens towards the last of July, is crimson 

 red, globose, and generally about ]/^ inch in diameter. It usually 

 contains 4 nutlets, which are smooth, moon shaped, and have at 

 least 1 rib on the back. 



Distribution. — The Mountain-Holly, like the other hollies 

 in Illinois, prefers swampy places about lakes and bogs. In such 

 habitats it ranges from Newfoundland to Wisconsin and south 

 to Virginia and Illinois. In Illinois, it is so rare as to have been 

 collected only four times within the boundary of the state. Three 

 of these reports are from Cook County, and the fourth is from 

 Starved Rock in La Salle County. 



CELASTRACEAE 

 The Staff -Tree Family 



The staff-tree family is made up of shrubs, trees and climbing 

 vines, some of which are spiny, with opposite, whorled, or alter- 

 nate, simple leaves without stipules. The inflorescences normally 

 are cymose, and the flowers are perfect and polygamous or 

 dioecious. There are 4 or 5 sepals, 4 or 5 petals, 4 or 5 stamens, 

 and a compound pistil made up of 2 to 5 ovaries. The style is 

 short or absent, and the ovary is capped by a 2- to 5-lobed 

 stigma. The fruit is a capsule, a drupe or a berry, and the seeds 

 often are surrounded by a brightly colored structure known as 

 an aril. 



Of about 45 genera, comprising between 350 and 400 species 

 widely distributed in temperate and warmer regions, 3 occur 

 in the northeastern United States and 2 are native in Illinois. 



Key to the Shrubby Genera 



Decumbent or upright shrubs with opposite leaves 



Euonymus, p. 167 



Twining vines with alternate leaves Celastrus, p. 170 



