NINEBARK 



NINEBARK 



Opuldstcr opnlifbliiis. P/iysocdrpus optiUJblins. 



Opulaster, resembling a wild opulus, or cranberry-tree. 

 F/iysocarpus, bladder-fruit, in reference to the inflated 

 pods. 



A shrub three to ten feet high, with recurved branches, smooth 

 twigs and foliage, the bark peeling off in thin strips ; found on 

 river banks and in rocky places. Ranges from Quebec to Geor- 

 gia, west to Manitoba and Kansas. Often cultivated. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, palmately veined, one to three 

 inches long, ovate-orbicular, obtusely or acutely three-lobed, 

 rounded, wedge-shaped or heart-shaped at base; lobes irregu- 

 larly crenate-dentate or crenate-serrate. Stipules fugitive. Peti- 

 oles three-fourths to an inch long. 



Flowers. — June. White, rarely purplish, perfect, borne in 

 ])anicled, many-flowered hemispherical corymbs one or two inches 

 broad, which are terminal on short branches. Pedicels slender, 

 glabrous or pubescent. 



Calyx. — Bell-shaped, five-lobed, pubescent, persistent. 



Corolla. — Petals white, five, rounded, inserted on the throat 

 of the calyx, imbricate in bud. 



Stamens. — Thirty to forty, inserted with the petals; filaments 

 white, anthers purplish. 



Pistil. — Carpels five, on short stalks, alternate with the calyx- 

 lobes. 



Fruit. — Follicles, glabrous, shining, three-eighths of an inch 

 long, inflated, acute, obliquely subulate-tii)ped, each containing 

 two to four seeds. Borne in corymbs, each pedicel bearing five. 

 Seeds ovoid or globose, shining. 



The Niliebark is now very (generally planted in anv 

 i^arden f^roup of spiraeas. The llower cluster resembles 

 that of Spircca vanJio7ittci, but not quite so many appear 

 on a flowering spray, and the blooming" period comes a 

 little later. The plant is a spirsea when it blossoms ; 



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