CELASTRACE.E— STAFF-TREE FAMILY 



RUNNING STRAWBERRY BUSH. RUNNING EUONY- 



MUS 



Euonymus obovatus. 



Euonymus, of Greek derivation, signifies good repute. 



Low, straggling, decumbent, the main stems lying on the 

 ground and rooting at the nodes ; upright stems rarely more 

 than one foot high ; found in low woods and wet places. 

 Ranges from Ontario to Pennsylvania and westward to Indiana 

 and Kentucky. Branches green, four-angled or slightly winged. 



Leaves. — Simple, opposite, pinnately veined, one to two 

 inches long, obovate, or oblong, wedge-shaped at base, finely 

 crenulate-serrulate, obtuse at apex, glabrous, thin, dull green 

 above, paler green beneath. 



Flowers. — April, May. Perfect, purplish green ; pedicels 

 solitary, long, slender, one to four-flowered, borne in the axils 

 of the leaves. 



Calyx. — Four to five-cleft ; lobes spreading. 



Corolla. — Petals five, nearly orbicular, crenulate or erose, with 

 scarcely any claw, inserted beneath the five-lobed disk. 



Slamens. — Five, inserted on the disk. 



Pistil. — Ovary sessile, three-celled ; stigma three-lobed. 



Fruit. — Fleshy, dehiscent, two-celled, rough, warty capsule, 

 borne on a long drooping pedicel ; when mature is crimson and 

 white, and opens to discharge two to three white oval seeds en- 

 closed in a scarlet aril. Beautiful, persistent. September. 



58 



