MEZEREUM FAMILY. 



THYMELtEACE^. 



Leatherwood. Dirca palustris. 



Moosewood. 



Found in light moist woodlands in April. 



A shrub, from 2 to 4, or 5, feet in height, branching in an angular 

 fashion ; the smooth close bark is very flexible and tough, gray-brown, 

 and slightly shining, dotted with lighter color. 



The oval leaf is entire, strong-fibred, and smooth, and set on a very 

 short stem. The arrangement is generally alternate, and the color a 

 full green. 



The small tubular flower, with slightly notched edges, and a thin 

 texture, is of a beautiful golden yellow color ; the 8 orange-tipped 

 stamens and the pistil hang from the mouth of the tube. The flowers 

 droop in small clusters from the hold of three or four bracts which are 

 beautifully smooth and green on the inside, and thickly covered with a 

 fine purplish down on the outside ; they are set irregularly along the 

 branches. 



It is stated in Grray's Manual there are as many temporary bracts 

 as there are flowers, but no hard and fast rule is observed in nature in 

 such details ; according to personal observation 4 is the usual number. 

 These bracts fall as soon as the leaves push forth. It is noted that the 

 flowers lose their color as the leaf-buds swell, although they do not 

 wither until the leaves are unrolling. The bark is so elastic and tough 

 that a knot may be tied, without its breaking, in a stem as big as the 

 little finger. The first glimpse of this gray bush strung with its golden 

 jewels and never a trace of green about its branches, gives a pleasure 

 akin to the more spiritual delight of beholding the Wych Hazel which 

 occupies the same jjlace in nature at the other end of the flower year. 



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