CELASTRUS. 



CJiLASTRINEJE. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



French, bourreau des arbres ; Italian, celastre. It is sometimes 

 familiarly called Staff-tree ; being called Celastrus from an ever- 

 green shrub so named by Theophrastus, and described by him as 

 fit for no use but to make staves for old men*. 



THE Celastrus bullatus in many parts of North 

 America, where it grows naturally, rises to a height of 

 nine or ten feet, but in this country it seldom exceeds 

 five. Several stems grow from one root, and these again 

 divide into many branches, covered with a brown bark, 

 and clothed with leaves about three inches long, and two 

 broad : the flowers grow in loose spikes at the ends of 

 the branches ; they are white, and blow in July. This 

 shrub rarely ripens seed in England. 



The Celastrus scandens, or Climbing Staff-tree, has 

 very flexible stalks, which wind round each other, or 

 round any tree or shrub that happens to be near, to the 

 height of fourteen feet, or more; binding the trees to 

 which it clings so tight as sometimes to destroy them. 

 The leaves are of a lively green on the upper surface, but 

 much paler beneath ; the flowers make little show, but 

 the fruit is, when ripe, very ornamental, being then of a 

 bright red. It flowers in June, and the seeds ripen in 

 autumn. 



* Johnson, the editor of Gerarde's Herbal, supposes the Celastrus 

 of Theophrastus to have been the evergreen privet, and therefore 

 gives it as one of the names of that shrub. 



