SAXIFRAGE FAMILY 



SAXIFRAGACEAE 



WILD HYDRANGEA 



Hydrangea arborescens L, 



The flower of our cultivated Hydrangea bushes appears 

 to consist merely of a flat white calyx. It has been derived 

 from the wild form and in clusters is more beautiful. 



Breeding for 

 this cultivated 

 race has been 

 possible due to 

 the existence of 

 a few such out- 

 ermost flowers 

 in the clusters 

 of the Wild Hy- 

 drangea, where 

 their function ■ 

 seems to be the 

 attraction of 

 insects, 

 t T h e W i 1 d 



Hydrangea is a 

 shrub 4-10 feet high, which grows along the wooded slopes of 

 ravines and banks of streams from New York to Georgia and 

 west to Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma. It does not occur in 

 Illinois north of La Salle county but is not uncommon in the 

 central and southern portions. 



The stem is smooth or nearly so and the ovate opposite leaves 

 are toothed and usually somewhat paler green beneath. 



The plant blooms in June and July and sometimes again 

 in September. Frequently all the flowers are perfect. The 

 8-io-ribbed calyx tube is hemispherical and remains as the 

 outer covering of the fruit; the limb is 4 or 5-toothed. There are 

 4 or 5 ovate petals, 8 or 10 stamens and i pistil with 2-4 styles. 

 The fruit is a 15-ribbed capsule with many seeds in its 2 cells, 

 and it opens by a hole between the diverging styles. 



The Gray or Pale Hydrangea, Hydrangea cincrea Small, of the 

 Ohio river region differs principally in its branches, ash gray by 

 means of a fine close down, and in the leaves, which are densely 

 pale downy beneath. The small white flowers are in compound 

 flat-topped clusters, but the outer ones are characteristically en- 

 larged, showy and sterile. 



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