WHITE 



closely related to this shrub, whose generic name is the ancient 

 Latin title for the holly-oak. 



RED-BERRIED ELDER. 



Sambucus racemosa. Honeysuckle Family. 



Stems, Woody, two to twelve feet high. Leaves. Divided into leaf- 

 lets. Flowers. White, resembling those of the Common Elder (p. 78), but 

 borne in pyramidal instead of in flat-topped clusters. Fruit. Bright red, 

 berry-like. 



The white clusters of the red-berried elder are found in the 

 rocky woods of May ; its scarlet fruit, like that of the shad- 

 bush, appearing in June. 



BUNCH-BERRY. DWARF CORNEL. 



Cormts Canadensis. Dogwood Family. 



Stem. Five to seven inches high. Leaves. Ovate, pointed, the upper 

 crowded into an apparent whorl of four to six. Flowers. Greenish, small, 

 in a cluster which is surrounded by a large and showy four-leaved, petal -like, 

 white or pinkish involucre. Calyx. Minutely four-toothed. Corolla. Of 

 four spreading petals. Stamens. Four. Pistil. One. Fruit. Bright 

 red, berry-like. 



When one's eye first falls upon the pretty flowers of the 

 bunch-berry in the June woods, the impression is received that 

 each low stem bears upon its summit a single large white blossom. 

 A more searching look discovers that what appeared like rounded 

 petals are really the showy white leaves of the involucre which 

 surround the small, closely clustered, greenish flowers. 



The bright red berries which appear in late summer make 

 brilliant patches in the woods and swamps. Both in flower and 

 fruit this is one of the prettiest of our smaller plants. It is 

 closely allied to the well-known flowering-dogwood, which is so 

 ornamental a tree in early spring. 



In the Scotch Highlands it is called the " plant of glut- 

 tony," on account of its supposed power of increasing the appe- 

 tite. It is said to form part of the winter food of the Esqui- 

 maux. 



54 



