SPINDLE-TKEE FA_^^ILY 



log 



valves ; seeds solitary in each chamber, (Name from the Greek 

 eiibnumos, lucky, in allusion to the poisonous character of the fruit, 

 as fairies are called "good people," from fear.) 



I. E. europLeus (Common Spindle-tree, Prickwood). — A shrub 

 well marked by its smooth, green, angular branches : glossy, ovate- 

 la.nceQlate, minutely serrated leaves; loose clusters of small 



FRITT OF EUOKVMT-S EUKi.'P.^US i^Coinnt.Jn S}^} ndlc-l rCe). 



greenish, usually tetramerous, flowers; and, above all, by its 

 deeply-lobed capsules, which, when ripe, are rose-coloured, and 

 split so as to disclose the seeds covered by a scarlet aril, which 

 Tennyson describes as — 



"The fruit that in our autumn woodiands looks a flower." 



The wood was formerly used for skewers, spindles, and charcoal. 

 — Fl. May, June. 



