I90 THE BARBERRY FAMILY. 



centre; deeply five to seven lobed, the lobes two cleft and dentate; flowering 

 stems arising from different rootstocks and usually bearing two similar leaves ; 

 slightly pubescent and ciliate, or occasionally glabrous. Stem: erect; smooth; 

 sheathed with several membraneous scales at the base. Rootstock : poisonous. 



Perhaps no plant through its range is better known by the native people 

 than the wild mandrake, or as they more generally call it, the hog apple. 

 For hogs, the ubiquitous ones of the south know well enough how to shove 

 their long snouts under the great leaves in search of its hidden treasure, 

 the sweetish, yellow fruit. It is perhaps their struggle for existence w^hich 

 makes these creatures sagacious and happily they are not over discriminat- 

 ing about flavour. Through the mountainous districts they freely roam in 

 search of their livelihood ; their owners' responsibility concerning them 

 often having ceased with the tying of a cow bell about their necks. From 

 them no place is sacred. Other parts of the plant than its fruit, however, 

 contain certain drastic, poisonous properties which they know well enough 

 to leave alone, although these are utilized by chemists for whom the people 

 collect the rhizomes in the autumn. Children have the pretty idea that the 

 plant only unfurls its great umbrella-like leaves during April showers. 



THE STRAWBERRY=SHRUB FAMILY. 



CalycantJiacccE. 



Spreading shriihs with sii7tple, opposite, entire leaves having shoft 

 petioles, and ivhich bear large flowers, solitary at the ends of leafy 

 hranehes. Sepals and petals imbricated in rows. Fruit large, enclosing 

 many seeds. 



SMOOTH STRAWBERRY=SHRUB. CAROLINA ALLSPICE, 



But)ieria fcr tills. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Strawberry- Maroon. Faintly scented Georgia and Tennessee., May. 



shrub. or scentless. to Pennsylvania. Fruit: August. 



Fhrwcr-hracts : green; linear; persistent. Sepals and petals: long; linear and 

 imbricated in many rows. Sfameits : numerous. Pistils: numerous, within the 

 receptacle. Fruit: ovoid; tapering at the base and enclosing about twenty 

 large, flattened seeds. Leaves : with short almost glabrous petioles ; ovate or 

 elliptical, tapering at the base into the margined petiole ; thin; dark green; rough 

 on the upper surface; glaucous underneath at least when young. A branching 

 shrub, four to ten feet high with reddish bark marked with pale dots. 



In western North Carolina, as I once saw from the roadside the large 

 fruit of this shrub shadowed by other foliage, it recalled a wild fig just be- 



