THE STAFF-TRKK FAMILY. 3,7 



THE STAFF=TREE FAMILY. 



Cclasiracc(i\ 

 Trees or shrubs, somcti))ics cliDibiiii:;, u<it/i allrniate or opposite simple 

 leaves, and small, perfect or imperfeet, rei^nlar /lowers, usually borne on, 

 join ted pedieels. 



BURNING BUSH. STRAWBERRY BUSH. WAHOO. 



huihiymus .Imcr/ea/ius. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Staff-tree. Creenisli. Scintless. l-'loriiia and Texas /tine. 



to New York. Fruit: Se/>ieiitl'er-So-'evil'er. 



Fiozvers : perfect, solitary or a few growing on slender axillary peduncles. 

 Calyx: four to five cleft, the lobes spreading. /\t,i/s : five; rounded; mostly 

 clawed. Stamens: very short. Capsule: large, rough, three to five celled and 

 enclosing seeds covered with an exquisite scarlet aril. Leaves: with very short 

 petioles, ovate, or broadly lanceolate, long pointed at the apex and rounded, or 

 acute at the base ; finely crenulate, smooth, or very slightly pubescent. A large 

 shrub three to eight feet high with green or ash coloured and angled twigs. 



When the shadows lengthen on the dial and the days shorten, and one 

 after another the leaves and flowers fall to mother Earth, there still lingers 

 one burning, brilliant spot on the landscape, which like the last dart of a 

 flame before the fire is dead guards the threshold of winter. It is the 

 burning bush, which at this season displays its chief beauty, its warty pods 

 and scarlet arils. No doubt it is the only lively looking thing in sight, 

 should not the witch-hazel be somewhere near in the low wood. Now very 

 familiar is the shrub in cultivation, where in thus prolonging the pageant of 

 colours it is of inestimable value. 



CANBY'S MOUNTAIN LOVER. {Plate CI.) 

 Fae/iystima Cdnbyi. 



FUnvers : minute, perfect, growing singly or a few clustered at the end of axil- 

 lary ])eduncles. Calyx : four-lobed. Petals : four, oblong-ovate. Slaineiis : four 

 inserted beneath the disk. Capsule: two-celled; oblong. Lea-'es : opposite; with 

 short petioles, linear oblong, or oI:)ovate, serrate near the apex, the margins 

 slightly revolute, coriaceous, smooth, evergreen. A low, leafy shrub, at most one 

 foot high, with corky branches. 



It was Mr. Wm. M. Canby who first found this very rare little shrub 

 growing along the rocky cliffs of the New River, near Kggleston. X'irginia. 

 Sometimes it occurs but a few inches high, is evergreen and has curious 

 yellow roots. Its branches also are decumbent and often turn about and 

 root themselves in the ground. 



