236 BRECK'S BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



by the Japanese cabinet-makers for polishing wood, in the 

 manner that the stems of the Equisetum hyemale are with us. 



DIERVILLA. 



Diervilla trifida. Three-flowered Bush Honeysuckle. 

 This is a pretty native shrub, from two to four feet high, with 

 handsome opposite leaves, from the axils of which spring three 

 yellow, honeysuckle-shaped flowers in July. 



DIRCA. 



Dirca palustris. Leather Wood. This is a much branched 

 shrub, from three to six feet high, found in wet, marshy, and 

 shady places. It is conspicuous, when in flower in April, for 

 the number of yellow blossoms, which fade and fall rapidly as 

 the leaves expand. The wood is very pliable, and the bark of 

 singular toughness and tenacity. It has such strength that a 

 man cannot pull apart so much as covers a branch of half or 

 third of an inch in diameter. It is used by millers and others 

 for thongs. The aborigines used it as a cordage. 



EL^EAGNUS, 



Oleaster. 



Elceagnus, from the Greek, an olive ; the tree having a 

 striking resemblance to the olive tree. Shrubs, or small trees, 

 ten or fifteen feet high. 



E. angiistifolia, and E. argentea, are shrubs or low trees, with 

 elegant silvery foliage, their only recommendation. 



