330 THE BUCKTHORN FAMILY. 



RED=ROOT. NEW JERSEY TEA. 



CreaiibtJms Americanus. 



Flmvers : crowded in small, umbel-like clusters which together form dense ter- 

 minal panicles. Calyx: with five, 'rounded whitish lobes. Corolla: with five 

 hood-shaped petals. Slamens : five. Pistil: one, with a three-lobed stigma. 

 Fniit : three-lobed, and splitting at maturity in three carpels. Leaves : with short 

 petioles; ovate, rounded, or subcordate at the base and mostly pointed at the 

 ape.x ; three-ribbed; finely serrate; paler and dingy pubescent underneath. A 

 shrub, one to three feet high, with tomentose twigs which later become glabrous. 

 Roots : dark red. 



On the high Alleghanies, where the fleecy, pretty bloom of this plant is 

 seen often in great masses, it is perhaps generally regarded as being use- 

 ful. A bouquet would hardly ever be picked of it, for such in these parts is 

 not the function of fiowers. But in the autumn its dark red roots are col- 

 lected, not only for the cinnamon coloured dye they yield, but also to be 

 used as a curative for diseases of the spleen. Then in such enormous 

 quantities do the mountaineers drink the decoction that by a native doctor 

 I was told they often produce inflammation of that organ. This practice, 

 although not its abuse, they seem to have learned directly from the 

 Cherokee Indians. During the Revolution the leaves of the red-root were 

 used as a substitute for tea by many of the troops. 



THE GRAPE FAMILY. 



Vitacecs. 



A group of dhnbing or erect shrubs with watery sap and simple., 

 or co7npouiid, alternate leaves; and which bear small greenish floivers.^ 

 growi7ig in panicles, racei7ies or cymes. Fruit : a berry. 



PEPPER=VINE. PINNATE=LEAVED AMPELOPSIS. 



{Plate CIV.) 



Ampclopsis arbor ea. 



Flowers: very small; perfect; regular; growing in short cymose panicles. 

 Petals : five, distinct, spreading. Berries : one quarter of an inch in diameter, black 

 lustrous. Seeds: bony. Leaves: compound; twice or thrice pinnate ; the 



