222 THE SAXIFRAGA FAMILY. 



DECUNARIA. {Plate LXVI.) 



Decimaria barbara. 



Flowers: growing in terminal, compound corymbs. Calyx: top-shaped; 

 adherent to the ovary. Petals ; seven to ten with slender lobes. Stamens : num- 

 erous. Capsules: top-shaped and projecting the styles with capitate stigmas; 

 ribbed. Leaves: simple; opposite with slightly pubescent petioles; ovate or 

 oval, pointed or blunt at the apex and rounded or pointed at the base; slightly 

 one-sided; entire or shallowly repand-dentate ; glabrous; shiny and slightly pubes- 

 cent on the under veins. A woody vine. 



On trees that inhabit low swamps this plant sometimes climbs to a con- 

 siderable height, by means of the aerial rootlets which it insinuates into the 

 bark and then ascends as fearlessly as men, with climbers or spurs, do tele- 

 graph poles. It is an altogether strange acting vine and monotypic of its 

 genus in southeastern North America. Late in August when the capsules 

 have burst the tissue between their ribs that the seeds may escape, they 

 still cling to the stems and look very much like miniature squirrel's cages. 

 The leaves then have turned from a vivid dark green to various shades of 

 bright yellow. 



VIRGINIA WILLOW. 



Ilea Virginica. 



Flowers : growing in terminal, dense racemes. Calyx-tube: campanulate, five- 

 lobed ; persistent. Petals : five, linear, slightly spreading. Stamens : five. 

 Capsule: oblong, tipped with the twice parted style, pubescent. Leaves : simple; 

 alternate ; with rather short petioles, long oval, elliptical, or oblanceolate, pointed 

 at the apex and narrowed at the base ; sharply serrate; bright green and glabrous 

 above, slightly hairy on the under sides along the veins ; deciduous. A shrub, 

 five to ten feet high. 



A rather peculiar member of the saxifrage family is this one, but always a 

 delightful find, and especially when drooping its long, slender clusters of fra- 

 grant flowers. From the resemblance of its leaves to those of a willow it was 

 christened with its common and scientific names, although to many this like- 

 ness might not appeal as they are a good deal broader than the popular 

 conception of willow leaves. In wet places, barrens and especially through 

 the Dismal swamp they wave abundantly amid the wild vegetation. 



