WITHE-ROD 



Leaves. Opposite, simple, pinnately veined, ovate or oval, 

 narrowed or rounded at base, crenulate, acute at apex, thick in 

 texture, glabrous or nearly so. Autumnal tint first purple, then 

 turns to a rich vinous red. 



Flowers. June, July. Perfect, white, borne in broad flat 

 pedunculate cymes two to four inches across. 



Calyx. Tube adnate to the ovary ; border five-toothed. 



Corolla. White, rotate five-lobed ; lobes spreading. 



Stamens. Five, inserted on corolla-tube, exserted. 



Pistil. Ovary inferior, style short, three-lobed. 



Fruit. Drupe, globose to ovoid, dark blue, one-fourth of an 

 inch in diameter, stone round or oval, flattened. September. 



The best garden plant among our viburnums is Vi- 

 burnum cassinoides. An inhabitant of northern swamps, 

 it is distributed from Newfoundland to the Saskatche- 

 wan and southward to New Jersey. In its wild home 

 it is a loose, straggling shrub, but in cultivation it 

 takes on the graces of civilization and be- 

 comes compact, symmetrical, an ornament to 

 the race and the flower of the family. The 

 leaves are thick, leathery and rather dull 

 green; the flowers, which are cream-white, 

 are borne in broad five-rayed cymes four or 

 five inches across. They are succeeded by Leaf of 



um nu 



abundant fruit which melts from pale green 



into bright rose, and then darkens into blue-black: 



o 



berries of the three colors often appearing at the same 

 time. 



Viburnum nudum, the Large Withe-rod, is a bush of 

 southern range which sometimes crosses our border. 

 It resembles Viburnum cassinoides, but blooms a little 

 later. 



Viburnum lantana, the Wayfaring Tree of Europe, is 



285 



num nudum. 



