SHRUBS 523 



rib ofieu dividing the leaf unequally, turned backward, pale 

 beneath, softly hairy along the margin, spicy and aromatic in 

 odor and taste. Leaf-buds scaly. Time, March and April. 



Stamens and pistils in different flowers. Calyx of 6 sepals, 

 greenish yellow, petal-like. Corolla, none. Sterile blossoms, 

 with 9 stamens in 2 or 3 rows, all with large, 2-celled anthers, 

 the inner row of filaments glandular at base. The pistillate 

 flowers have a roundish ovary, surrounded by many rudimen- 

 tary stamens. Flowers, peduncled, 3 to 6, clustered along the 

 branches, the cluster subtended by a 4-leaved involucre. Fruit, 

 at first retaining the style in a little pit at its apex, dropping 

 this when ripe, and becoming a large, red, oval drupe. 



A graceful, tall bush, 4 to 12 feet high, smooth-stemmed, with 

 brittle branches. The yellow flowers appear before the leaves. 

 Found in moist woods, from New England to Michigan, and 

 southward. 



To this family belongs the aromatic sassafras-tree, sometimes a 

 shrub, with similar flowers. 



117 



L. melissaefblia, 2 to 5 feet in height, has oblong leaves, 

 obtuse or heart-shaped at base, with young branches and 

 leaves softly downy, and few umbels of flowers. 



North Carolina to Florida, in low, wet grounds. 



118. Leatherwood. Moosewood 



Dirca pa/dstris. — Family, Mezereum. Color, light yellow. 

 Leaves, alternate, oval, or inversely ovate, almost smooth. 

 Time, April. 



No corolla, but a colored, tubular, funnel-shaped, 4-toothed 

 calyx. 4 long and 4 short stamens, inserted on the calyx, 

 stand out from the flower. Fruit, a reddish berry. The 

 numerous flowers emerge, before the leaves, from a thick, 

 scaly bud, which remains as an involucre, and later gives 

 rise to a leafy branch. 



