HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY 



BLACK HAW. STAG BUSH 



Vilnimiini pniuifbliitin. 



Often a shrub, sometimes a small bushy tree with short crooked 

 trunk and stout spreading branches. Found in the undergrowth of 

 the forest. Ranges from Connecticut to Georgia westward to Kan- 

 sas and Indian Territory. 



Inifk. — Reddish brown, scaly. Branchlets at first red, then green, 

 finall\ dark brown tinged with red. 



Wood. — Brown tinged with red ; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp. 

 gr., 0.8332 ; weight ot cu. tt., 51.92 lbs. 



\]'intcr Buds. — Coated with rusty tonientum. Flower-buds ovate, 

 half an inch long, niucli larger than the a.Killary buds. Scales grow 

 with the growing shoot and sometimes develop into leaf-like bodies. 



Leai'cs . — Opposite, simple, o\al, ovate or orbicular, two to three 

 inches long, wedge-shaped or rounded at base, serrate, acute. 

 Feather - veineil, midrib and primary \'eins prominent beneath. 

 They come out of tlic bud involute, shining, green, tinged with red, 

 sometimes sniootli, or clothed with rust)' tomentum ; when full grown 

 dark green and smooth above, pale, smootli or tomentose beneath. 

 In autumn tlie lea\-es vary from scarlet to a vinous red. Petioles 

 short, groo\'ed, red, often tomentose, sometimes winged. 



F/oioi-rs. — May. Perfect, cream-white, borne in 

 flat-topped cymes three to four inches in diameter. 

 The pedicels are biljracteolate ; bracts are awl- 

 sliapcd, short, reddish, caducous. 



Caly-V- — Urn-shnped, five-toothed, persistent. 



Corolla. — WIfite, five-lobed ; lobes rounded, im- 

 bricate in bud. 



Single Flower of 



Black Ha-.v 17- Staiih'iis. — Five, cxscrtcd, inserted on the base of 



bunnim pniin- the Corolla, altcrn:itc with the lobes; filaments slen- 

 foUum. dor; anthers p.ilc yellow, oblong, introrse, versatile, 



two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally. 



Pistil. — Ovary inferior, one-celled ; st^le thick, pale green ; stigma 

 flat; ovules one in each cell. 



Fruit. — Drupe, ov;il, half nn incli long, dark blue, with glaucous 

 bloom. Ripens m October, borne in few-fruited clusters, hangs 

 until winter, becomes edible after being touched by the frost. Stone 

 flat and eveo, broadly ovah 



