THE STAFF-TREE FAMILY. 3,^, 



CLiriBINQ BITTER=SWEET. WAX-WORK. 



Cell is trus sl( in dens. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIMB OF BLOOM 



Staff-tree. CreiDit-ivhite^ Scentless. North Caroli mi north- May^Jun: 



or green ish . 7va rd a nd ivestwa rd. I'ru it: Septcmler-Mi>: '.inlfr. 



Flo7uers:^\\\A\\, imperfect; growing in compoiincl, terminal racemes nn jointed 

 pedicels. Calyx: five-cleft, cup-shaped. Corolla: with five spreading petals. 

 Stamens : five, inserted on the lobed disk. Capsules : orange-red, the rounded' 

 divisions bursting and showing within the scarlet arils. LeaTes : aiternate some- 

 what two-ranked, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, long pointed at the aijcx and 

 pointed at the base ; finely serrate or crenate-serrate; glabrous. A climbing, 

 woody vine. 



Through the dreary and cold days of November there is mticli of cheer- 

 fulness radiated from this woody vine-like shrub as it is seen hung with its 

 brilliantly coloured fruit. Often it grows through woods, climbing over 

 trees and rocks and forming a gay contrast to the witch-hazel bush in 

 bloom perhaps not far distant. The evergreen smilax near by and the 

 cheerful call of the little brown quail all then combine to shed a ray of hope 

 and life through the otherwise grey and cheerless aspect of barren trees. 

 Besides gathering long sprays hung with the fruits for decorating the home 

 during the winter, country people collect the roots to use in various 

 medicinal ways. 



THE BLADDER=NUT FAMILY. 



Staphyleacece, 



AMERICAN BLADDER=NUT. 



SlaphyVea trifblia. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Bladder-fiut. White. Scentless. South Carolina and Missouri April, May. 



fiorthward. 



Flowers : growing in short axillary drooping racemes and having their pedicels 

 bracted at the bases. Calyx : cami^anulate, with five sepals almost as long as the 

 petals. Sepals: five, narrow. Stamens: five, as long as the divisions of the 

 perianth. Pistil: one, with three styles. Capsules: large ; bladder-like, opening 

 at the summit and containing in each cell from one to four seeds. Leaves: oppi>- 

 site; three-foliate, with long petioles, and linear stipules. Leajlets: almost sessile, 

 excepting the terminal one, oval or ovate, taper-pointed at the apex and poinletl or 

 rounded at the base ; finely serrate ; thin ; jjubesceni when young. A shrub five 

 to fifteen feet high, with smooth, often striped bark. 



It is not often that we find this shrub, and perhaps when wc do it puzzles 

 us a little, especially if its delicate white tlowers are in blow. When 

 they are succeeded, however, by the large pods, intlated and somewhat the 

 colour of bladders, we find less difficulty in relegating the shrni) t.. this 

 genus, of which through our range it is the only representative. 



