HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



and i stamen at the base of each lobe with a 2 -celled sessile 

 anther. Pistillate flowers, a single berry-like ovary, surrounded 

 by a 3-lobed calyx. Fruit, a fleshy berry. Flowers, in axillary 

 clusters. May to July. 



Shrubs parasitic on trees, especially the tupelo and red 

 maple, from central New Jersey southward. The mistletoe 

 sold so much on our city streets at Christmas time is Viscum 

 album, imported from England. It grows on many fruit and 

 forest trees, especially the apple tree, being not specially 

 injurious to them, the Lombardy poplar alone being exempt. 

 It bears yellow flowers in February or March, and ripens fruit 

 the next autumn. Bird-lime is derived from the viscid pulp 

 of the berries. Birds are the propagators of this parasite, 

 since they eat the berries and wipe their bills upon the 

 branches of trees, leaving a seed to germinate. It was held 

 sacred by the ancient Druids when found, as it seldom is, 

 growing upon an oak. 



Dwarf Mistletoe 



Arceuthobium pusillum. — Family, Mistletoe. Color, flowers so 

 small as scarcely to display color. The plant is less than 1 inch 

 long, consisting of roundish, somewhat branched, fleshy, smooth, 

 yellowish-brown or greenish stems scattered over the host-plant, 

 like excrescences. Flowers, when examined under the magnifying- 

 glass, are seen to be of two kinds, the staminate with a 2 to 5- 

 parted fleshy calyx, with an equal number of stamens, an anther 

 sessile on each lobe, opening by a round slit; pistillate flowers, 

 with a 2 -parted calyx. Fruit, a fleshy, ovoid berry. 



Found on certain deciduous trees, especially pine and 

 larch, sometimes making " witches' brooms," on these trees 

 at low altitudes, from New Jersey to Florida and westward. 



Common Barberry 



Berberis vulgaris. — Family, Barberry. Color, yellow. Leaves, 

 alternate, bristly toothed, inversely ovate, in tufts, springing 

 from the axils of branched spines. From the center of the rosette 

 of leaves drooping racemes of flowers spring. Sepals and petals, 

 6. Bractlets below the sepals. Stamens, 6. Pistil, 1. Fruit, 

 a long, acid berry, containing one or two hard seeds. They are 

 often preserved, and make a refreshing drink. May and June. 



The stamens are curiously sensitive. Kolreuter was the 

 first to discover the fact that when the filaments are touched 

 the anthers bend toward the pistil and come in contact with 



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