50'2 AKJJOHETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III, 



GENUS II. 



6'ELA'STRUS L. THE CELASTRUS, or STAFF TREE. Lin. Syst. Pentandria 



Monogynia. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., 270. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 5. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 6. 

 Synonymes. Euonymoldes Mcench. ; Clastre, Fr. ; Celaster, Ger. 



Derivation. From kelas, the latter season ; the fruit remaining on the tree all the winter. The 

 kelastros of the Greeks is supposed to be the uunymus. 



_ 1. C. SCA'NDENS L. The c\'\mbmg-stemmed Celastrus, or Staff Tree. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 285. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 6. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 9. j Bourreau des Arbres, Fr. ; 



Baummorder, Ger. 

 Engravings. Nouv. Du Ham., 1. 1. 95. ; Schkuhr Handb., 1. t 47. ; and our^g. 171. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Thornless, climbing, smooth. 

 Leaves oval, acuminate, serrate. Flowers dioe- 

 cious. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 6.) A deciduous twining 

 shrub; a native of North America, and intro- 

 duced, by Peter Collinson, in 1736. The flowers 

 are of a pale yellow, and the capsules of an orange 

 scarlet colour, 3-cornered and 3-seeded. The 

 stems are woody and flexible, and twist themselves 

 round trees and shrubs, or round each other, to 

 the height of 12 ft. or 15 ft. or upwards, girding 

 trees so closely as, in a few years, to destroy 

 them ; whence the French and German names, which signify " tree- 

 strangler." The leaves are about 3 in. long, and nearly 2 in. broad, serrated, 

 of a lively green above, but paler on the under side. We are uncertain 

 whether both of the sexes are extant in British collections or not ; but, as 

 seed has been produced in the Botanic Garden at Bury St. Edmunds, 

 it is clear that the female one, at least, is. Miller says the seeds ripen 

 well in England, and that the plant may be propagated by them, or by 

 layers. It prefers a strong loarny soil, rather moist than dry. As a freely 

 growing twiner, with pleasing foliage, and as ligneous twiners are not 

 numerous, it deserves to be more generally cultivated. Plants, in the 

 London nurseries, cost Is. 6d. each, and American seeds Qd. an ounce ; 

 at Bollwyller, plants 1 franc each ; and at New York, plants 20 cents 

 each, and seeds 35 cents a quart. 



1 2. C. BULLA'TUS L. The studded-capsuled Celastrus, or Staff Tree. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 285. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 6. ; Don's Mill, 2. p. 7. 

 Engravings. Pluk. Aim., t 28. f. 5. 



Spec. Char., $c. Thornless, climbing. Leaves ovate, acute, entire. Flowers 

 in terminal panicles. Capsules elegant, studded, scarlet. (Dec. Prod., ii. 

 p. 6.) A low shrub, said to be a native of Virginia, and to have been first 

 discovered by Banister, and afterwards introduced in 1759; but Pursh, 

 after diligent research, in the place of its supposed nativity, and also in the 

 herbariums of Plukenet and Banister, at the British Museum, was not 

 able to satisfy himself that it was a native of America. Miller says that it 

 grows, in its native country, to the height of 8 ft. or 10ft.; but in England it 

 seldom attains more than half that size. It flowers in July ; and, in its 

 native country, the flowers are succeeded by scarlet capsules ; but it rarely 

 ripens seeds in England. (Mart. Mill.) 



App. i. Half-hardy Species of Celastrus. 



There arc a number of species of Celastrus from the Cape of Good Hope, and some from the East 

 and West Indies, and South America, which might be tried in the open air against a conservative 

 wall ; but the family are not of sufficient beauty or interest to render this desirable to any great 



