WHITE 



name indicates. To be sure, the first red, then purple berries, 

 can scarcely be accounted for, but such a trifling incongruity 

 would fail to daunt the would-be wiseacre of field and forest. 

 With Napoleonic audacity he will give you the name of almost 

 any shrub or flower about which you may inquire. Seizing 

 upon some feature he has observed in another plant, he will im- 

 mediately christen the one in question with the same title 

 somewhat modified, perhaps and in all probability his author- 

 ity will remain unquestioned. There is a marvellous amount of 

 inaccuracy afloat in regard to the names of even the commonest 

 plants, owing to this wide-spread habit of guessing at the truth 

 and stating a conjecture as a fact. 



WITHE-ROD. 



Viburnum cassinoides. Honeysuckle Family. 



A shrub five to twelve feet high. Leaves. Ovate or oval, thick, smooth. 

 Flowers. White, much as in above. Fruit. First pink, then turning 

 dark blue or blackish with a bloom. 



The withe-rod blossoms in early summer. The first pink, 

 then dark blue fruit, is noticeable and very decorative in August 

 in wet or sandy places. 



ARROW-WOOD. 



Viburnum dentatum. Honeysuckle Family. 



A shrub from five to fifteen feet high. Leaves. Broadly egg-shaped; 

 sharply toothed ; strongly veined. Flowers. White ; small ; in flat-topped 

 clusters. Calyx, etc. As in above. Fruit. Dark blue. 



This is a not uncommon shrub in wet places. Its white 

 flower-clusters are noticeable in June along the wooded roadsides. 

 There are many other species of viburnums which are common 

 in certain localities. If an analysis of the flower shows it to be- 

 long to this genus, Gray's "Manual" should be consulted for 

 further identification, 



28 



