HARPERS GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



more or less heart-shape at base, smooth, dark green. Petals, none. 

 Sepals, 4, small, looking like white petals. Pistils and stamens, in 

 different flowers, numerous, a few sterile stamens often mixed with 

 the pistils. Flowers, in leafy panicles. In the center of the fertile 

 flower the fruits ripen into plumose achenes, feathery and downy, 

 enabling the seed to float far in the breeze. July and August. 



A long vine, growing over shrubs and fences by means of 

 the turning and twisting of its leaf-stalks. In places it 

 makes a tangle over alders, hazels, and other bushes, twining 

 into a veritable bower. Its hoary, plumed seeds are ripe in 

 September, and, if near one's house, press themselves flat 

 against window-screens. Wet, springy soil, river-banks, etc. 

 New England to Georgia and westward to Kansas. (See 

 illustration, p. 393.) 



Moonseed 



Menispermum canadense. — Family, Moonseed. Color, white. 

 Stamens and pistils, borne on different flowers of the same plant. 

 Sepals, 4 to 8, with 12 to 14 stamens of the same length. An- 

 thers, 4-celled. Pistils, 2 to 4, raised on a short receptacle, accom- 

 panied by 6 sterile filaments and 6 to 8 petals. Flowers, very 

 small, panicled. Fruit, a fleshy, round, black drupe covered with 

 a bluish bloom. The stone inside is wrinkled, flat, crescent- 

 shape, whence the common name. Leaves, alternate, very 

 broadly shield-shape, 4 to 8 inches across, acute at apex, with 

 slender petioles. June and July. 



Woody climbers. The panicle of small flowers is not very 

 noticeable, but the bunch of grape-like fruit in September 

 adds beauty to the tangled growth beside our streams. Along 

 banks of streams in all the Eastern States. 



Mock Orange. Syringa 



Philadelphus inodorus. — Family, Saxifrage. Color, white. Calyx, 

 tubular, top-shape, the limb 4 to 5-parted. Petals, 4 or 5, round- 

 ish or ovate, large, not scented. Stamens, numerous. Styles, 3 

 to 5, more or less united. Flowers, generally 2 or 3 together, 

 terminating short branches; sometimes single. Leaves, opposite, 

 oval, pointed at both ends, distinctly 3 -nerved, entire around the 

 margins, or with a few small teeth. May. 



In thickets south of Virginia. Cultivated in Pennsylvania 

 and escaped from gardens. 



Large -flowered Syringa 



P. grandiflbrus A taller shrub than the last, with larger 



flowers. 6 to 10 feet high. Leaves, broad, oval or ovate, acute, 



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