DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 139 



above, paler and sometimes slightly downy beneath. Peduncles 

 short, bracted. Flowers 4-parted, staminate flowers in small cymes, 

 the pistillate usually solitary. Fruit bright red. Damp, sandy soil 

 E. and S.* 



2. I. decidua, Walt. DECIDUOUS HOLLY. Small trees; twigs 

 smooth. Leaves thin, obovate, obtuse or sometimes acute at the 

 apex, scalloped, smooth, deciduous. Flowers in sessile clusters, 

 4-6 parted. Fruits very numerous, bright red. On low ground S.* 



3. I. verticillata, Gray. BLACK ALDER, WINTERBERRY. * A much- 

 branched shrub 6-8 ft. high. Leaves thin, oval or obovate, taper- 

 pointed, serrate, 1^-2 in. long. Flowers greenish-white, on very 

 short peduncles. Fruit bright red, 1, 2, or 3 in a leaf -axil, remain- 

 ing long after the leaves have fallen. Swampy ground and damp 

 woods and thickets. 



56. CELASTRACEJE. STAFF-TREE FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, sometimes climbing. Leaves simple, oppo- 

 site or alternate. Flowers small, in cymes. Calyx small, 

 4-5-lobed, persistent. Petals 4-6, short. Stamens 4-6, 

 alternate with the petals and inserted with them on a disk. 

 Ovary sessile, 3-5-celled ; style entire or 3-5-cleft ; ovules 2 

 in each cell. Seeds usually covered with an appendage (aril) 

 growing from the hilum. 



I. CELASTRUS, L. 



A woody, twining shrub. Leaves alternate. Flowers 

 dioecious or somewhat monoecious, small, greenish, clustered 

 at the ends of the branches. Pod 3-celled, 3-valved, looking 

 like an orange-colored berry, which on opening shows the 

 scarlet arils of the seeds. 



1. C. scandens, L. WAX-WORK, CLIMBING BITTERSWEET. 

 Climbing 10-15 ft. Leaves ovate-oblong, 2-4 in. long, finely ser- 

 rate, taper-pointed. In thickets and along fences, also planted for 

 the showy scarlet seeds, which retain their color for many months. 



H. EUONYMUS, Tourn. 



Shrubs with 4-angled branches. Leaves opposite. Flowers 

 in axillary, peduncled cymes, purplish or greenish, small. 



