277 



THE SPINDLE-TREE. 



EUONYMUS EUEOP^US. 



Natural Order CELASTRACEJE:. 



Class TETRANDRIA. Order MONOGYNIA. 



FEW persons can have walked through, a woodland dis- 

 trict in September or October without noticing among 

 the brushwood a straggling shrub with remarkably green 

 branches, narrow smooth leaves, and four-lobed seed- 

 vessels, which split vertically and disclose as many seeds, 

 which are wrapped up in a bright scarlet membrane. This 

 is the Spindle-tree, a common shrub throughout the whole 

 of Europe, sometimes attaining a height of from fifteen 

 to twenty-five feet, but more generally ranking only as a 

 hedge-bush. Its flowers appear 'in May : they are of four 

 petals, small, and of a whitish-green colour. The leaves 

 and bark are acrid and poisonous. The wood, like that of 

 the Cornel, is of a very close grain, and being used for the 

 same purposes as that tree, is often called by the same 

 names, Prickwood and Dogwood. It has long been used 

 for making spindles, whence it derives its name. In Ire- 

 land it is commonly called Pegwood, from its being made 

 into the pegs used by shoemakers. Loudon says that it 

 was formerly employed in the manufacture of musical in- 

 struments, and that it is still occasionally used for the keys 

 of pianofortes. In Scotland it is employed with the dark 

 wood of the Alpine Laburnum to form the drinking-cups 

 called bickers. In making these, staves of the yellow 

 wood of the Spindle-tree and of the dark wood of the La- 

 burnum are arranged alternately, and produce a pleasing 

 effect. In Germany spindles are still made of the wood, 

 and in this country watchmakers prefer it to any other 

 kind of wood for the slender spills which they use in 

 cleaning watches. When reduced to charcoal, it makes an 



