STUDIES OF LEAF AND TREE (PART III) 



153 



along the margins of some secluded swamp or sluggish 

 river, few growths of the kind are more attractive. 



The Buttonbush has quite an extensive distribution, 

 being found in New Brunswick, from whence it occurs 

 all the way down to Florida even across the Straits 

 into Cuba. It is also scattered across the United States 

 through Arizona to California. Frequently this globe- 

 flower, river-bush, or button-ball has been brought under 

 cultivation, and to immense 

 advantage ; indeed, in some 

 places it has been bred to 

 a point where the flowers 

 and leaves have come to be 

 handsomer than those we 

 find in nature. The study 

 of the great mass of little 

 flowers, each a most per- 

 fect structure in its way, 

 would furnish a whole 

 chapter for Forestry read- 

 ers ; but for the present, 

 such a task cannot be en- 

 tered upon. One thing, 

 however, may be said right 

 here to those who are mak- 

 ing a collection of our 

 American butterflies : It is 

 well not to overlook the 

 Buttonbush. When it is in 

 full flower, just note how 

 many, many butterflies are 

 attracted by it and no 

 wonder. The little flowers, 

 so many of them packed 

 conveniently in an easily ac- 

 cessible ball, are absolutely 

 filled with fragrant and de- 

 licious nectar and what 

 more can any roving but- 

 terfly ask? 



We have a wonderful as- 

 sociation of flowers in the 

 Rose family (Rosaceae), 

 and here our "natural 

 classification" certainly re- 

 sults in gathering together 

 many apparently ver^ dif- 

 ferent trees and plants to 

 form one and the same 

 group. As a family, the 

 Rosaceae contains, among 

 many other species in its 

 numerous genera, the Goat's Beard; American Ipecac; 

 the Pears, Juneberries, and Hawthorns, with their very 

 numerous allies ; the Strawberries ; Cinquefoils ; Avens 

 and Brambles; Lady's Mantle and the Agrimony; Bur- 

 net ; all the Roses, and all the Plums, Cherries, and so on 

 (Prunus). Think of Agrimony and the wild Cherry 

 trees being in the same family! However, there is no 



HERE WE HAVE A BEAUTIFUL SPECIMEN OF THE BUTTON 

 BUSH (Cephalanthus occidentalis) 



Fig. 38 A well-known writer on American botany aptly likens the flowers 

 of this "shrub" to a little round, white pin cushion, stuck full of pins; 

 the comparison is not so far off. 



way out of it, for the flower-structure settles the ques- 

 tion in the matter of classification, in as much as it is 

 all on the same plan and arrangement throughout this 

 series. 



Among these Rosaceae, we have some beautiful cherry 

 trees, both great and small ; they all belong in the genus 

 Prunus, many of them being well known to foresters, 

 agriculturists, and other readers of this article. One of 



the best and most famiHar 

 examples is the common 

 Choke Cherry (Fig. 39), 

 which at this time has 

 spread over the greater part 

 of the United States 

 through the agency of 

 birds, various species of 

 which eagerly devour its 

 fruit. In the upper part of 

 the State of Texas and in 

 southern Nebraska, it 

 grows to be quite a tree ; 

 while over the rest of its 

 range it rarely exceeds a 

 syringa bush in height. 

 Such a one furnished the 

 beautiful specimen of which 

 the flowers are shown in 

 Fig. 39. This one grew in 

 a little swampy hollow just 

 west of Sixteenth Street, 

 close to the south end of 

 the great bridge spanning 

 an eastern branch of Rock 

 Creek, well within the en- 

 virons of Washington, 

 D. C. Elegant residences 

 have already encroached 

 upon that locality. As will 

 be noted, its flowers, and 

 later on its fruit, are in pret 

 ty racemes. Usually its 

 bark is very shiny, especi- 

 ally that of the twigs both 

 possessing a very nauseating 

 odor when bruised, or be- 

 fore being so treated to 

 some extent. Its leaves are 

 well shown in the illustra- 

 tion, and they are noted for 

 being abruptly pointed at 

 their distal ends, their gen- 

 eral outline being elliptical, 

 with edges finely serrated. Choke cherries, even when dead 

 ripe, are by no means pleasant to the taste ; and when a 

 kiddie greedily tries them for the first time, it invariably 

 results in his making a most frightful face, blowing them 

 all out of his mouth with a rush, and making a vow never 

 to indulge in them again. 



As we proceed westward, Prunus virqiniana gradually 



