44 TREES GROWING NEAR WATER. 



that of Nyssa sylvatica. Both are picturesque trees, especially 

 in the autumn when their brilliant foliage blazes from the river's 

 bank and they are hung with their dark blue fruit. 



BLACK ALDER. VIRGINIA WINTERBERRY. (Plate XL) 

 Ilex verticilldta. 



FAMILY 8HAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Holly. Bushy y spreading. 6-2$Seet. Nova Scotia, westward^ May \ June. 



and to Florida. Fruit: Sept., Oct. 



A tall shrub. Branchlets : greyish, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves : about 

 two inches long ; simple ; alternate ; with short petioles ; obovate or broadly 

 lanceolate ; usually pointed at both ends ; coarsely serrate; dark green above 

 and glabrous ; paler below and pubescent; thick, not very shiny. Flowers: 

 white ; six to eight parted ; clustered thickly in the axils. Drupes : brilliant red 

 and appearing verticillate in manner of growth. 



In what is called the dreary season of the year, long after 

 the time when its leaves have turned black and fallen, there is 

 something particularly enchanting about this coarse shrub. 

 Standing out amid the misty greyness that prevails and against 

 perhaps the rich brown glow of some distant wood its lively 

 coloured berries give a touch of hopefulness to the landscape. 

 In fact the brightness of the twigs of various shrubs adds gleams 

 of colour to a winter scene that are not dreamt of by the un- 

 observing. 



In early summer its blossoms shine clear and bright, but they 

 are modest, retiring little things and do not claim the same 

 attention as do the berries. They unfold with those of the 

 common elder, its relative the withe-rod or viburum nudum and 

 the lovely small magnolia. By them the swamps and low 

 grounds are made gay. 



WILD YELLOW PLUM. WILD RED PLUM. 



CANADA PLUM. (Plate XII.) 



Primus Americana. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Plum. Slender ; spreading. 8-35 feet. Canada southward to April, May, 



Florida and westward Fruit: Aug.,-Oct. 

 to Colorado. 



Bark: bronze-green; smooth; thick. Branches: thorny. Leaves: simple; 

 alternate ; with smooth, reddish petioles ; oval or obovate, with pointed 



