STRAWBERRY SHRUB FAM. Calycanthace&c. 



petals, half an inch long, resembling stamens. The real 

 stamens have dark-red anthers, but yellow pollen, and 

 both petals and stamens are densely crowded around the 

 ovary. The round fruit has a narrow neck, concave top, 

 and many seeds. In quiet mountain ponds we find these 

 yellow flowers, on stout stems standing up out of the water, 

 the lily-pads floating idly on its surface. Indians grind 

 the seeds into meal for porridge, or else roast them and 

 eat them like popcorn. 



STRAWBERRY SHRUB FAMILY. Calycanthaceae. 



A very small family, of only two genera, one North 

 American, one Japanese; aromatic shrubs, with opposite, 

 toothless leaves, with short leaf-stalks, without stipules; 

 flowers large, solitary, at the ends of leafy branches; sepds, 

 petals, and stamens, indefinite in number, in many, over- 

 lapping series, passing one into the other, so that one 

 cannot tell which is which, and all borne on the receptacle, 

 which is hollow, resembling a rose-hip, almost enclosing 

 the numerous pistils; stamens short, the inner ones without 

 anthers; receptacle becoming a large, leathery, oblong or 

 pear-shaped fruit, containing few or many, smooth, shining 

 akenes. 



There are three kinds of Calycanthus in this country, 

 two of them eastern; flowers purple or ved, stamens in- 

 serted in several rows. 



This resembles the familiar shrub of 

 Strawberry Shrub g- * . ; , j j^.t.n 



Calycdnthus old-fashioned gardens and the flowers 



occident&lis have the same pleasant and elusive aroma, 



Red something like strawberries, much more 



Summer { when crus h e d. The shrub is four 



California . , . , . , 



to ten feet high, with rather coarse, harsh 



foliage and large, handsome flowers, two or three inches 

 across, warm maroon in color, shading to brown and 

 purple, with yellow stamens. This is handsome and 

 conspicuous, because of the uncommon and rich coloring 

 of its flowers, and grows along watercourses in the canyons 

 of the foothills and is most common in northern California. 

 It has many other names, such as Sweet Shrub, Carolina 

 Allspice, Wineflowers, etc. 



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