The Viburnums and the Elders 



scaly plates. JVood heavy, hard, brownish yellow, close textured, 

 bad smelling. Buds red; axillary long pointed, in two pubescent 

 scales; terminal, button-like, with long, abruptly tapering scales. 

 Leaves 2 to 3 inches long, ovate, with tapering apex and base, 

 serrate, shining, leathery, opposite, pitted with black underneath; 

 autumn colours orange and red; petioles stout, short, with wavy, 

 winged margins. Flowers, April to June, in flat cymes, 3 to 5 

 inches across; white, perfect. Fruit, September, oval, dark blue 

 drupes, sweetish, juicy, smooth, with pale bloom on red pedicels, 

 few in a cluster. Preferred habitat, moist soil of rocky stream 

 borders or edges of swamps. Distribution, Quebec to Saskatche- 

 wan; south to Alabama along Appalachian Mountains; west to 

 Nebraska, Kansas and Wyoming. Uses: Ornamental shrubs or 

 trees in Eastern States. 



The sheepberry, with its shining leaves set opposite, is 

 likely to be mistaken for a dogwood.' But the prominent, wavy- 

 winged margins of the petioles are the best distinguishing char- 

 acter. The multitudinous tiny flowers are in cymes like the 

 elders, and after them come a few oval berries of fair size, dark 

 blue, looking not unlike those of a dogwood, for they hang on 

 coral-red branching stems. They are good to eat — if one is very 

 hungry. 



The chief merit of this little tree is its beauty, and because 

 of this it finds its way into many Eastern parks and gardens. 

 There is no season when it is not good to look upon. It is a 

 familiar inhabitant of fence rows and the edges of woodlands. 

 It blooms in late May, and holds its ripe fruits over winter for 

 birds to feed upon. 



The Rusty Nannyberry (V. rufidulum, Raf.) is easily 

 distinguished by the rusty hairs on its winter buds, petioles, 

 and the veins on the lower side of the leaf. It is quite as hand- 

 some (though not yet as well known) as the smooth species just 

 described. It has white flowers and large, bright blue berries. 

 It grows from Virginia to Florida, and west to Illinois and Texas. 

 In gardens it has proved hardy in Boston. 



The Black Kaw (K. prunifolium, Linn.), with leaves like 

 a plum's, and the narrow petiole margin smooth, has flowers and 

 fruits very much like those of the others. The berries are a 

 trifle smaller, perhaps, and a shade darker. This species is 

 smaller throughout than the other two; it blooms earlier, and has 



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