CELASTRACEJE. (STAFF-TREE FAMILY.) 81 



ORDER 35. CELASTRACE^E. (STAFF-TREE FAMILY.) 



Shrubs with simple leaves, and small regular flowers, the sepals and the 

 petals both imbricated in the bud, the 4 or 5 perigynous stamens as many as 

 the petals and alternate with them, inserted on a disk which Jills the bottom of 

 the calyx. Seeds arilled. Ovary 2 - 5-celled, with one or few anatropous 

 (erect or pendulous) ovules in each cell : styles united into one. Fruit 2 - 

 5-celled, free from the calyx. Embryo large, in fleshy albumen : cotyledons 

 broad and thin. Stipules minute and fugacious. Pedicels jointed. Rep- 

 resented in the Northern States by two genera. 



1. CE1,ASTRUS,L. STAFF-TREE. SHRUBBY BITTER-SWEET;. 



Flowers polygamo-dioecious. Petals (crenulate) and stamens 5, inserted on 

 the margin of a cup-shaped disk which lines the tube of the calyx. Pod glo- 

 bose (orange-color and berry-like), 3-celled, 3-valved, loculicidal. Seeds 1-2 

 in each cell, erect, enclosed by a pulpy scarlet aril. Leaves alternate. Flow- 

 ers small, greenish, in raceme-like clusters terminating the branches. (An 

 ancient Greek name for some evergreen, which our plant is not.) 



1. C. scfuHleiis, L. (WAX-WORK. CLIMBING BITTER-SWEET.) 

 "Woody, sarmentose and twining ; leaves ovate-oblong, finely serrate, pointed. 

 Along streams and thickets. June. The opening orange-colored pods, dis 

 playing the scarlet covering of the seeds, are very ornamental in autumn. 



2. EUONYMUS, Tourn. SPINDLE-TREE. 



Flowers perfect. Sepals 4 or 5, united at the base, forming a short and flat 

 calyx. Petals 4-5, rounded, spreading. Stamens very short, inserted on the 

 edge or face of a broad and flat 4 - 5-angled disk, which coheres with the calyx 

 and is stretched over the ovary, adhering to it more or less. Style short or 

 none. Pod 3 - 5-lobed, 3 - 5-valved, loculicidal. Seeds 1 - 2 in each cell, en- 

 closed in a red aril. Shrubs, with 4-sidcd branchlets, opposite serrate leaves, 

 and loose cymes of small flowers on axillary peduncles. (Deriv. from ev, good 

 and oi/ojua, jiame, because it has the bad reputation of poisoning cattle. Tourn.) 



1. E. atropurpureiis, Jacq. (BURNING-BUSH. WAAHOO.) Shrub 

 tall (6 -14 high) and upright; leaves petioled, oval-oblong, pointed; parts of 

 the (dark purple) flower commonly in foui-s ; pods smooth, deeply lobed. New 

 York to Wisconsin and southward : also cultivated. June. Ornamental in 

 autumn, by its copious crimson fruit, drooping on long peduncles. 



2. E. American us, L. (STRAWBERRY BUSH.) Shrub low, upright 

 or straggling (2 -5 high) ; leaves almost sessile, thickish, bright green, varying 

 from ovate to oblong-lanceolate, acute or pointed ; parts of the greenish-purple 

 flowers mostly in fives ; pods rough-warty, depressed, crimson when ripe, the aril 

 scarlet. Wooded river-banks, W. New York to Illinois and southward. June. 



Var. obovfstiis, Torr. & Gray. Trailing, with rooting branches ; flower- 

 ing stems l-2 high ; leaves thin and dull, obovate or oblong. (E. obovatus, 

 Nutt.) Low or wet places. 



