HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY 



BLACK HAW. STAG BUSH 



Vibtirnum prunifblium. 



Often a shrub, sometimes a small bushy tree with short crooked 

 trunk and stout spreading branches. Found in the undergrowth of 

 the forest. Ranges from Connecticut to Georgia westward to Kan- 

 sas and Indian Territory. 



Bark. Reddish brown, scaly. Branchlets at first red, then green, 

 finally dark brown tinged with red. 



Wood. Brown tinged with red ; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp. 

 gr., 0.8332 ; weight of cu. ft., 51.92 Ibs. 



Winter Buds. Coated with rusty tomentum. Flower-buds ovate, 

 half an inch long, much larger than the axillary buds. Scales grow 

 with the growing shoot and sometimes develop into leaf-like bodies. 



Leaves. Opposite, simple, oval, ovate or orbicular, two to three 

 inches long, wedge-shaped or rounded at base, serrate, acute. 

 Feather - veined, midrib and primary veins . prominent beneath. 

 They come out of the bud involute, shining, green, tinged with red, 

 sometimes smooth, or clothed with rusty tomentum ; when full grown 

 dark green and smooth above, pale, smooth or tomentose beneath. 

 In autumn the leaves vary from scarlet to a vinous red. Petioles 

 short, grooved, red, often tomentose, sometimes winged. 



Flowers. May. Perfect, cream-white, borne in 

 flat-topped cymes three to four inches in diameter. 

 The pedicels are bibracteolate ; bracts are awl- 

 shaped, short, reddish, caducous. 



Calyx. Urn-shaped, five-toothed, persistent. 



Corolla. White, five-lobed ; lobes rounded, im- 

 bricate in bud. 



Single Flower of 



Black Haw Vi- Stamens. Five, exserted, inserted on the base of 

 burnum pruni- tne corolla, alternate with the lobes ; filaments slen- 

 foiium. der; anthers pale yellow, oblong, introrse, versatile, 



two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally. 



Pistil. Ovary inferior, one-celled ; style thick, pale green ; stigma 

 flat ; ovules one in each cell. 



Fruit. Drupe, oval, half an inch long, dark blue, with glaucous 

 bloom. Ripens in October, borne in few-fruited clusters, hangs 

 until winter, becomes edible after being touched by the frost. Stone 

 flat and even, broadly oval. 



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