144 



TREES GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 



WESTERN BLADDER-NUT. i^IHate LXX ) 

 St I ip/t)'iii I BoUin deri. 



FAMILY 

 Stiijftree. 



SHAPE 



Erect: bratulu's, 



itout. 



HEIGHT 



About ybj'fft. 



RANGE 



^'J'iii. ijic Joifsti."' 



TIME OF BLOOM 



A/>,U. 

 Fruit: July. 



Branches: reddish brown, the new growth light yellow or green. Lfaves: 

 compound; oijpositc ; thrce-foliatc ; witii long pctiok-s ; the IcaHets broadly 

 oval ; abrujxly pointed at the ajjcx. and pointed or blunt at the base ; serrate; 

 };labrous. Fltnveis : greenish white ; perfect ; regular, and growing in drooping, 

 terminal panicles. Sr/'iils : five. /VA/Zj .• five. ^VAf/wtv/j- ; five ; exserted. J'is- 

 til : one, with three styles, l-'niit: laige ; bladdei-liUe, and containng from on. 

 to four flattened seed in each cell. 



To follow the woods aiul streams with eyes alert to all that 

 is growing is to live upon the brink of discovery, and when a 

 rare or unknown plant is found there is a certain dread and ex- 

 citement lest one may have been deceived, and a fear tiiat the 

 illusion will be shattered by some one pointing out that it has 

 been known and written abotit in ages past. 



The specific name of the western bladder-nut commemorates 

 the collector who first discovered it growing at McCloud's 

 Fork of the Sacramento River, It is one of the rarest shrubs of 

 the Pacific coast ; and it is not thought that it has been intro- 

 duced into cultivation. Even more interesting than the fine 

 delicate flowers are the curious bladder-like seed vessels. That 

 they have sprung from things so small seems indeed a mystery, 



ELDER. {Plate LXXL) 

 Sambiicits Caniiiie/isis var. Mexicana. 



Biirk: brownish red ; broken in horizontal ridges. Lenses: compound; op- 

 l)osite ; odd-pinnate ; with pubescent stalks and five ovate-lanceolate leaflets, 

 pointed at the apex and wedge-shaped at the base ; sharply serrate, and be- 

 c lining entire at the base ; yellow-green ; thick ; pubescent along the veins. 

 Fhm'crs: white; minute; growing in large, flat cymes. Jrtiit: a blue-black 

 diupe ; juicy, and having no bloom. 



There are, perhaps, few that are not familiar with the com- 

 mon elder, the shrub about which cluster so many old tradi- 

 tions. In western Texas, and extending to California, the vari- 



I 



