CELASTRACE.E 675 



CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Leaves opposite, deciduous; parts of the flower in 4's; fruit a fleshy capsule enclosed in a 

 colored aril. 1. Evonymus. 



Leaves alternate, persistent (0 in S). 



Fruit capsular; parts of the flower in 5's. 



Capsule 3-4-valved, loculicidal, its outer coat woody, the valves apiculate at 



apex; base of the seed enclosed in a colored aril. 2. Maytenus. 



Capsule o-valved, septicidal, its outer coat thin and fleshy, the valves 2-lobed at 



apex; seed without an aril. 3. Canotia. 



Fruit drupaceous; parts of the flower in 4's; seed without an aril. 



Leaves often crenately serrate above the middle; stipules minute, caducous; fruit 



usually 1-seeded; branchlets quadrangular. 4. Gyminda. 



Leaves entire; stipules 0; fruit 2-seeded; branchlets terete. 5. Schaefferia. 



1. EVONYMUS L. 



Small generally glabrous trees or shrubs, with usually square sometimes wing-margined 

 branchlets, bitter drastic bark, slender obtuse or acuminate winter-buds, and fibrous roots. 

 Leaves opposite, petiolate, entire, crenate or dentate, deciduous or rarely persistent; 

 stipules minute, caducous. Flowers perfect or polygamo-dicecious, in dichotomous ax- 

 illary usually few-flowered cymes; calyx 4-lobed (in the North American arborescent 

 species); disk thick and fleshy, cohering with and filling the short tube of the calyx, flat, 

 4-angled or lobed, closely surrounding and adhering to the ovary; petals inserted in the 

 sinuses of the calyx under the free border of the disk, as many as and much longer than the 

 calyx-lobes, spreading, deciduous; stamens as many as the petals and alternate with them, 

 inserted on the summit of the disk; filaments very short, subulate, erect or recurved; an- 

 thers 2-celled, the cells nearly parallel or spreading below; ovary 4-celled; styles short, 

 terminating in a depressed stigma; ovules usually 2 in each cell, ascending from the central 

 angle; raphe ventral, micropyle inferior, or pendulous, the raphe then dorsal and themicro- 

 pyle superior. Fruit capsular, 4-lobed and celled, fleshy, angled or winged, smooth (in 

 the North American arborescent species), loculicidally 4-valved, the valves septicidal. 

 Seeds 2 in each cell, or commonly solitary by abortion, ascending, surrounded by a col- 

 ored aril; seed-coat chartaceous; albumen fleshy; embryo axile; cotyledons broad, coria- 

 ceous, parallel with the raphe; the radicle short, inferior. 



Evonymus is widely distributed through the northern hemisphere, extending south 

 of the equator to the islands of the Indian Archipelago and to Australia. About forty 

 species are distinguished, the largest number occurring in the tropical regions of southern 

 Asia, and in China and Japan. Of the four species found within the territory of the 

 United States one only is a small tree. Many of the species are rich in bitter and as- 

 tringent principles, and are drastic and slightly stimulant. Many are valued as orna- 

 ments of gardens and parks. 



The generic name is from the classical name of one of the European species. 



1. Evonymus atropurpureus Jacq. Burning Bush. Wahoo. 



Leaves ovate-elliptic, acuminate, minutely serrate or biserrate, thin, puberulous below, 

 2'-5' long and l'-2' wide, with a stout midrib and primary veins; turning pale yellow in 

 the autumn and falling in October; petioles stout, \'-\' in length. Flowers appearing 

 from May to the middle of June, nearly \' across, in twice or thrice dichotomous usually 

 7-15-flowered cymes borne on slender peduncles l'-2' long and conspicuously marked by 

 the scars of minute bracts; calyx-lobes 4, rounded or rarely acute at apex, mostly entire; 

 petals broad-obovate, undulate, often erose on the margins; anthers spreading. Fruit 

 ripening in October, usually persistent on the branches until midwinter, deeply lobed, 

 \' across, with light purple valves; seeds sometimes gibbous on the dorsal side, broad and 



