tn the Vicinity of Boston. 17 



Ceanothus. 



Ceanothus americdnus New Jersey Tea. A delicate flow- 

 ering- shrub, from two to four feet high, with a root large 

 and red. Leaves alternate, three-nerved, fine pure green, 

 pubescent beneath, two or three inches long, and one inch 

 broad, tapering into a long point, and finely notched on the 

 margin. J>om the axils of the upper leaves, arise leafless 

 branches, bearing crowded, panicled clusters of white flow- 

 ers, on very slender, white steins. Calyx divisions five, bent 

 between the petals. Petals five, hooded at their tops, and 

 supported on slender claws, which project, together with the 

 stamens, between the divisions of the calyx. Around the 

 germ, is a small circle of green. The fruit is a dry, three- 

 celled, blackish, somewhat triangular berry, growing in close 

 bunches. The leaves have been substituted for tea. — Not 

 iinfrequent in woods, in dry, sandy soil, (jlrows near Mount 

 Auburn. — Flowers in June and July. 



Celastrus. 



Celdstrus scdndens Waxwork, Climbing Staff. A strong 

 woody vine, twining around small trees, and sometimes ris- 

 ing to the height of thirty, or perhaps even fifty feet. I 

 have traced one of its roots sixty feet without arriving at 

 the end ; although the largest part of the root, or of the 

 stem, was not a half an inch thick. I believe it is not uncom- 

 mon for two of these vines to intertwine, and bear each other 

 up without foreign support. Leaves oblong, notched in the 

 margin, long-pointed. Flowers greenish white, minute, in 

 small clusters with branching stems, growing on the ends of 

 young shoots. The fruit is a berry inclosed in a round, three- 

 valved capsule, as a walnut is inclosed in the hull. When 

 the fruit is ripe, the valves or hulls turn backward, without 

 falling off, and disclose a berry of a deep scarlet, finely contrast- 

 ed with the lighter scarlet of the valves ; the whole appear- 

 ing like a flower of waxwork. — Woods, thickets, &c. — June. 

 Cephalanthus. 



Cephaldnthus occidentdlis Button Bush. A frequent orna- 

 ment of water sides, where it rises to the elevation of five 

 or six feet. Leaves tough, egsr-shaped, pointed, not indent- 

 ed on the margin, and standing either opposite, or in threes. 

 Flowers sweet scented, white, crowded into globular heads, 

 about an inch in diameter, and appearing, at a distant view, 

 like the balls of the plane or button-wood tree. " The ap- 

 pearance of this shrub on elevated ground, often indicates 

 the presence of springs of water." — Swamps, &c. — July. 



Yours, 



Watertown, Sept. 9th, 1835. E. B. Kenrick. 



(To be continued.) 

 VOL. II. NO. I. 3 



