RHAMNACE^— BUCKTHORN FAMILY 



INDIAN CHERRY 



Rhdmnits caroliniana. 



Found along the borders of streams in rich bottom lands. Its 

 northern limit is Long Island, New York, where it is a shrub ; it be- 

 comes a tree only in southern Arkansas and adjoining regions. 



Bark. — Ashen gray, slightly furrowed, often marked with dark 

 blotches. Branchlets terete, reddish brown ; later gray, shining. 

 Bitter, acrid. 



Wood. — Light brown, sapwood almost white ; light, hard, close- 

 grained. Sp. gr., 0.5462 ; weight of cu. ft., 34.04 lbs. 



Winter Buds. — Small, acute. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, feather-veined, elliptical or oblong, 

 two to five inches long, one to two inches broad, wedge-shaped or 

 rounded at base, serrate or crenulate, acute or acuminate ; midrib 

 and primary veins yellow and conspicuous. They come out of the 

 bud conduplicate and densely coated with russet tomentum, when 

 full grown are dark yellow green, smooth above, paler and somewhat 

 hairy beneath. Petioles long, slender, downy. Stipules minute, 

 caducous. 



Flowers. — May, June, when leaves are half grown ; perfect or 

 polygamo-dioecious, green, axillary, borne in few-flowered downy 

 umbels. 



Calyx — Campanulate, five-lobed, lobes triangular, valvate in bud. 

 Disk lining the calyx tube. 



Corolla. — Petals five, inserted on the disk, alternate with the 

 calyx-lobes, minute, ovate, notched at apex, involute around the 

 stamens in bud. 



Stamens. — Five, opposite the petals, inserted on the disk ; fila- 

 ments short ; anthers in pairs, introrse, two-celled, cells opening 

 longitudinally ; rudimentary in pistillate flower. 



Pistil. — Ovary superior, free, ovoid, two to four-celled ; rudimen- 

 tary in staminate flower ; style long ; stigma three-lobed ; ovules 

 one in each cell. 



Fruit. — Drupaceous, globose, black, one-third of an inch in di- 

 ameter, resting on the base of the calyx ; flesh thin, sweet ; nutlets 

 two to four. 



49 



