EBENACEiE. (eBONY FAMILY.) 307 



§3. PRINOS, L. Parts of the sterile flowei-s in fours, fvcs, or sixes, those of the 

 fertile Jiowi-rs commoiili/ in sixcs (rarefy injicts, secens, or tiyhts) : nutlets smooth 

 and tvtii : Jiiuhs. 



* Leaves (Itcidiiuits: Jlowcrs in sessile clusters, or the fertile solitary : fruit bright red. 



8. I. verticillkta, Gray. (Black Aldek. WiNTKUUEKitY.) Leaves 

 obovate, oval, or wcdge-lanccolatc, pointed, acute at tlie base, serrate, downy on 

 the veins beneath; floweis all very short-pedunded. (Prinos vcrtieillatiis, L.) — Low 

 grounds : couiinou. May, June. 



9. I. laevigata, Gray. (Smooth WiNTERBERRY.) Leaves lanceolate or 

 obloug-Unucolate, pointed at both ends, appressed-serrulate, shining above, be- 

 neath mostly (jlahrous ; sterile Jiotvers lony-peduncled. (Prinos la;vigatus, Pursh.) 

 — Wet grounds, Maine to the mountains of Virginia. June. — Fruit larger 

 than in the last, ripening earlier in the autumn. 



* * Leaves coriaceous, evergreen, shining above, of en black-dotted heucatli : fruit black. 



10. I. gl^bl'a, Gray. (Inkheruv.) Leaves wedge-lanceolate or oblong, 

 sparingly toothed towards the apex, smooth; peduncles (|' long) of the sterile 

 flowers .3 - G-flowered, of the fertile 1 -flowered ; calyx-teeth rather blunt. (Pri- 

 nos glaber, L.) — bandy grounds. Cape Ann, Massachusetts, to Virginia and 

 southward near the coast. June. — Shrub 2° -3° high. 



2. NEMOPANTHES, Kaf. Mountain Hoixy. 



Flowers polygamo-dioecious. Calyx in the sterile flowers of 4 - 5 minute de- 

 ciduous teeth; in the fertile ones obsolete. Petals 4-5, oblong-Iinear, spread- 

 ing, distinct. Stamens 4-5: filaments slender. Drupe with 4-5 bony nutlets, 

 light red. — A much-br.nnched shrub, with ash-gray bark, alternate and oblong 

 deciduous leaves on slender petioles, entire, or slightly toothed, smooth. Flowers 

 on long and slender axillary peduncles, solitary, or sparingly dustei-ed. (Name 

 said by the author to mean " flower with a filiform peduncle," therefore prob- 

 ably composed of vrjfia, a thread, ttovs. afoot, and livOos, a flower.) 



1. N. Canadensis, DC. (Ilex Canadensis, Jl//f/i.r.) — Damp cold woods, 

 from the mountains of Virginia to Maine, Wisconsin, and northward : commoa 

 at the north. May. 



OuDKR 59. EBENACE.^. (Eboxy Family.) 



Treea or shrubs, irilh alternate entire leaves, and pnli/gamous regular flmo- 

 ers which have a calyx free from the 3- \2-ceUed ovary: the stamens 2 -i 

 times as many as the lobes of the corolla, of}en in pairs before them, their 

 anthers fumed inwards, and the fruit a several-celled berry. •Ovules 1 or 2, 

 suspended from the summit of each cell. Seeds anatroponp, mostly sinfjle 

 in each cell, large and flat, with a smooth coriaceons integument ; the 

 embryo shorter than the hard albumen, with a long radicle and flat cotyl- 

 edons. Styles wholly or partly separate. — Wood hard ami dark -colored. 

 No milky juice. — A small family, chiefly tropical, reprefe^ted here only 

 by the Persimmon. 



