NINEBARK 



NINEBARK 



Opuhister opulifblius. Physocarpus opnlifblius. 



Opulaster, resembling a wild opulus, or cranberry-tree. 

 Physocarpus, bladder-fruit, in reference to the inflated 

 pods. 



A shrub three to ten feet high, with recurved branches, smooth 

 twigs and foliage, the bark peeling off in thin strips ; found on 

 river banks and in rocky places. Ranges from Quebec to Geor- 

 gia, west to Manitoba and Kansas. Often cultivated. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, palmately veined, one to three 

 inches long, ovate-orbicular, obtusely or acutely three-lobed, 

 rounded, wedge-shaped or heart-shaped at base ; lobes irregu- 

 larly crenate-dentate or crenate-serrate. Stipules fugitive. Peti- 

 oles three-fourths to an inch long. 



Flowers. — June. White, rarely purplish, perfect, borne in 

 panicled, many-flowered hemispherical corymbs one or two inches 

 broad, which are terminal on short branches. Pedicels slender, 

 glabrous or pubescent. 



Calyx. — Bell-shaped, five-lobed, pubescent, persistent. 



Corolla. — Petals white, five, rounded, inserted on the throat 

 of the calyx, imbricate in bud. 



Stamens. — Thirty to forty, inserted with the petals; filaments 

 white, anthers purplish. 



Pistil. — Carpels five, on short stalks, alternate with the calyx- 

 lobes. 



Fruit. — Follicles, glabrous, shining, three-eighths of an inch 

 long, inflated, acute, obliquely subulate-tipped, each containing 

 two to four seeds. Borne in corymbs, each pedicel bearing five. 

 Seeds ovoid or globose, shining. 



The Ninebark is now very generally planted in any 

 garden group of spiraeas. The flower cluster resembles 

 that of Spinca vankouttei, but not quite so many appear 

 on a flowering spray, and the blooming period comes a 

 little later. The plant is a spiraea when it blossoms; 



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