STAPHYJLEACE^E. 69 



acute, serrate; peduncles 1 3-flowered, terete; calyx small, with acute 

 segments ; corolla 5-petalled ; fruit roughened, warty. 



Shady woods. Can. to Flor. W. to Miss. June. Shrub 46 feet high, with 

 opposite branches. Flowers greenish-yellow, with a tinge of purple. Fruit 

 cnmson, when mature. E. obovatus Nutt. is a trailing variety. 



Strawberry Tree. 



2. E. atropurpureus Jacq. : stem with smooth, opposite, square branches; 

 leaves petiolate, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, serrate, pubescent beneath ; 

 peduncles divaricate, many-flowered ; flowers 4-cleft ; fruit smooth. 



Shady woods. Can. to Flor. W. lo Miss. June. l^.Stem 48 feet high. 

 Flowers dark purple. Fruit crimson. Burning Biish. 



2. CELASTRUS. Linn. Staff Tree. 

 (A Greek name of uncertain application.) 



Dioeciously polygamous. Calyx minute, 5-lobed. Petals 

 5, small, unguiculate. Ovary small, with 10 striae, immersed in 

 the disk; style short and thick; stigma 3-lobed. Capsule 

 2 3-valved ; valves septiferous in the centre. Seeds 1 2 in 

 each cell, inclosed in a pulpy aril. 



C. scandens Linn. : stem climbing, unarmed ; leaves petioled, oval, acu- 

 minate, serrate ; stipules minute ; racemes terminal. 



Rocky woods. Can. to Virg. W. to Miss. May, June. A woody vine or low 

 shub. Leaves alternate. Flowers greenish-yellow, in small terminal racemes. 

 Fruit scarlet. Climbing Staff Tree. 



ORDER XXXIV. STAPHYLEACE^E. BLADDER-NUTS. 



Sepals 5, colored, imbricated. Petals 5, imbricated. Sta- 

 mens 5, alternate with the petals, perigynous. Disk large, 

 urceolate. Ovary 2 3 -celled, superior ; styles 2 3, cohering 

 at base. Fruit membranous or fleshy. Seeds roundish, with a 

 bony testa ; hilum large ; albumen none. Shrubs, with oppo- 

 site pinnate leaves. Flowers in terminal racemes. 



STAPHYLEA. Linn. Bladder-Nut. 



(From the Greek <rra<uA7, a bunch of grapes ; in allusion to its mode of flow- 

 ering.) 



Sepals 5, oblong, erect, colored, persistent. Petals 5. Sta- 

 mens 5. Styles distinct or slightly united. Fruit a membra- 

 naceous inflated 2 3-celled capsule. Seeds globose. 



& trifolia Linn. : leaves ternate, on long petioles ; leafets ovate, acumi- 

 nate, serrulate, pubescent, the terminal one petioled ; styles glabrous ; cap- 

 sule bladder-like. 



Moist places. Can. to Car. W. to Miss. April June. \i-Stem 610 fe< 

 high, with straight and smooth slender branches. Flowers white, in axillary 

 and terminal pendulous panicles. American Bladder-nut. 



