VINES AND SHRUBS 



Groundsel Tree 



Baccharis halimifolia. -Family, Composite. Colof t whil 

 sometimes with a yellow <>r purple tint. 1 ■ i 

 tapering at the base to short petiol< 

 toothed; those on the main stem and Large branch 

 toothed, thosr above and on the small branches entire. 

 all tubular, collected in Loose heads, pistillate and itaminafc 

 different plants, the brads i i<> 5 in a panicle, 011 peduncles, ter- 

 minating the branches. Corolla, in the fertile ' long, 

 narrow, thread-like; in the staminate, broader, 5-lobed. 



After the plant has gone to seed, the pappus <»!' the fertile 

 flowers becomes l"ng, full, and plum. -so. giving the shrub a 

 conspicuous, hoary look in late autumn. It is a light-col 

 bush, 6 to 15 feet high, the only true shrub among the Com- 

 posites, found growing plentifully in marine marshes and 

 along sea-beaehes from Massachusetts to Florida and T( 



VINES AND SHRUBS WITH YELLOW OH YELLOWISH BLOS 



Wild Yam-root 



Dioscorea e villbsa. — Family, Yam. Color, pale greenish yellow. 

 Flowers, of two kinds, the staminate with 3 or 6 stamens and im- 

 parted perianth; pistillate, with a 3-celled ovary which becomes, 

 in fruit, a 3-valved, 3-winged capsule. Fertile flowers hang in 

 drooping racemes; staminate, in long, drooping panicles, 3 to 6 

 inches long; all from the axils. Leavt . petioled, opposite or in 

 whorls of fours, broad, heart-shape at base, very acute at apex, 

 9 to n-nerved, thin, 2 to 6 inches long. June and July. 



Among the twining vines which make dense thickets this is 

 our only member of the Yam Family. Mosl of the S] 



tropical, of which four form a staple article of food for the 

 half-civilized peoples of Africa and Malaysia. The fleshy 

 rootstocks arc eaten baked, b. tiled, < \T fried. These 1 ilanl 

 cultivated in Japan, Siam. and the East Indies. P. vill 

 our Species, has a large, tuberous root. It is found in damp 

 thickets from Rhode Island to Florida, and westward to 

 Texas. 4,000 feet high in Virginia. Fruit remains on the 

 vines all winter. 



American Mistletoe 



Phoradendron fla<vesccns. "Family, Mistletoe. Color 



yellowish; of berries, white. Leaves, opposite, leathery, thick, 



i-ribbed, entire, oval <>r oblong, blunt, with short petioles, 1 to 



2 inches long. Staminate flowers, composed of .1 3-lobed calyx, 



1 ' 5 



