DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF FLOWERING SHRUBS. 413 



there are two varieties with variegated folia^^e. All that 

 we have tried have i)roved as hardy as a Lilac, flower 

 most profusely, and are very handsome and sweet-scented. 



DIRC A.— Leather-wood. 



[Dirca is tlie name of ;i fountain near Thebes, and probably applied to this 

 plant because it grows near mountain rivulets.] 



Dirca palUStris. — Leather-wood, Wicoj^y. — 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 Aj^ril, for the number of yellow blossoms, 

 which fade and fall rapidly as the leaves expand. The 

 Avood 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 tliird of 

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

 thonsjs. The aborigcines used it as a cordaore. 



EIIONYMTJS.— Spindle Tree.— Strawberry Tree. 



[Euonymns was a heathen divinity, according to Eniiiieiiides she was the 

 mother of llie Furies by Saturn.] 



Euonymus AmericanuS.— Burning Bush. — An elegant 

 shrub, growing eight to fifteen feet high, producing rather 

 inconsj^icuous purple flowers in clusters, which are suc- 

 ceeded by brilliant scarlet fruit, that remains after the 

 foliage has fallen ; highly ornamental. The foliage is 

 handsome ; the branches erect, of a fresh green color. 

 There is a variety with purplish-red berries, and another 

 with white berries. Upon the opening of tlie valv^es which 

 enclose the seeds, the white variety shows to great ad- 

 vantage, the valves being white, and the berry-like seeds 

 a light scarlet. The fruit is produced in great profusion. 



