CELA8TRACEAE 49 



2. E. AmericmiS 5 L. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, sub- 

 sessile ; flowers pentamerous ; capsule roughly verrucpse. 

 AMERICAN EUONYMUS. Strawberry tree. 



Stem 2 to 5 or 6 feet high, slender; branches spreading, 4-angled, deep green. 

 Leaves 1 to 2 or 3 inches long, often a little falcate, and almost sempervirent. 

 Flowers greenish-yellow, with a purple tinge. Capsule 5-valved, muricate, bright 

 crimson when mature. Seeds small, mostly two enveloped in each scarlet arillus. 

 Hob. Moist woodlands : not very common. Fl. June. Fr. Octo. 



ORDER XXXI. RHAMNACEAE. 



Shrubs, or small trees ; leaves simple, mostly alternate ; stipules minute ; flowers reg- 

 ular, small (sometimes apetalous) ; stamens as many as the valvate sepals, alternate 

 with them and opposite the petals; fruity capsule, or drupe, with 1-seeded cells; 

 seeds not arillate; embryo in fleshy albumen. 



82. CEAWO V THIIS, L. 



[An ancient Greek name; applied to this genus.] 



Calyx 5-lobed, circumscissed after flowering, the lower portion ad- 

 herent to the fruit. Petals cucullate, on slender claws. Capsule 

 3-lobed, splitting into 3 carpels, which open on the inner side, at 

 maturity. Shrubs, with the small flowers in an oblong terminal 

 thyrsus. 



1. C. Americslims, L. Leaves oblong-ovate, acuminate, pu- 

 bescent beneath ; common peduncles elongated. 

 AMERICAN CEANOTHUS. New Jersey Tea. 



Root large, dark red ; stem 2 to 3 or 4 feet high, branched and bushy. Leaves 2 

 to 4 inches long, on short petioles. Flowers white, numerous, thyrsoid, in cymose 

 fascicles. Seeds rather large, oval, smooth and shining. 

 Hob. Woodlands, and thickets : frequent. FL June. Fr. Sept. 



Obs. The Whigs, in the war of Independence, who were accus- 

 tomed to drinking Tea, substituted the leaves of this shrub for the 

 Chinese sorts, which had become odiously associated with the 

 tyrannous attempts of the mother country to tax the Colonies. 



ORDER XXXII. YITACEAE. 



SliruJJby runners, usually with a loose, stringy, dark-brown bark,-^climbing by 

 tendrils which are opposite the leaves ; leaves alternate, simple and palmate-veined, 

 or compound, with deciduous stipules* flowers regular, small, mostly in compound 

 racemes, opposite the leaves ; petals 4 or 5, valvate, caducous ; stamens as many as 

 .IB petals, and opposite them; fruit a 2-celled 4-eeeded berry; seeds bony; embryo 

 minute, at the base of hard albumen. 



83. TlTTiS, L. 



[The ancient Latin name of the Vine.] 

 Calyx obsoletely 5-toothed, lined with a perigynous disk. Petals 



0, cohering at apex, speedily pushed off by the stamens. Stigma 

 sessile. American species often potygamo-dioicous ; flowers greenish. 



t Flowers att perfect (Exotic species)* 



1. V. VINIF'ERA, L. Leaves variously palmate-lobed) sinuate-den- 

 tate, glabrous, or tomentose ; fruit of various sizes and colors. 

 WINE-PEODUCING Vins. Wine-Grape. Foreign Grape, &c. 



