476 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



21. Common Buckthorn 



R. catharhca is a thorny bush often cultivated for hedges. 



22. New Jersey Tea. Red-root 



Ceanothus Americanus. — Family, Buckthorn. Color, 

 white. Leaves, alternate, 3-ribbed, on short petioles, about 2 

 inches long, toothed, the teeth tipped with a brown, glandular 

 point; oblong or egg-shaped, smooth, except along the veins, 

 which are covered with rusty down. Time, July. 



Sepals, 5, white, incurved, rounded. Petals, 5 little hoods, 

 mounted on slender claws. In the centre of the flower is a 

 fleshy disk, to which the sepals are attached. Stamens, 5. 

 Pistil, I, with 3-lobed stigma. Fruit, a 3-seeded, 3-celled berry, 

 opening from the centre and splitting into 3 carpels. Flowers 

 with white pedicels in small clusters, with long, common pe- 

 duncles crowded along the upper branches from the axils of 

 the leaves. They are small, and the effect of the umbel is 

 light and feathery, a pure white. 



Shrub low, I to 3 feet high, with pale-green stems, which are 

 striped with brown. Growing in dry, woodland places, along 

 borders of roads, often well up a hillside. 



The leaves were used for tea during the American Revolution. 

 The root-bark, a bright red color, has astringent qualities, and 

 has been used in medicine. 



It furnishes a brown dye. 



23. American Bladder-nut 



Staphyiha irifolia. — Family, Soapberry. Color, white. 

 Leaves, opposite, pinnate, of 3, sometimes 5, broad, pointed, 

 toothed leaflets, on channelled or grooved petioles. Time, 

 May. 



Calyx, 5-parted, often tinged with a pink color. Corolla, of 

 5 petals, contracted into a tube below, somewhat hairy. Sta- 



