AMERICAN 



BERRIES OF HILL, DALE, AND 

 WAYSIDE 



In the accompanying illustrations the National Geographic Magazine 

 reproduces in natural colors a beautiful series of paintings of 29 species of Amer- 

 ican berries and their blossoms by the gifted artist-naturalist, Miss Mary B. Baton. 

 This is the fourth of The Geographic's series of matchless color pictures of Amer- 

 ican Wild Flowers. The first series was published in May, 1915, followed by 

 those of June, 1916, and Our State Flowers in June, 1917. The series comprise 

 64 pages in full color, depicting 1-05 species, each accompanied by a concise and 

 interesting description of the plant's habitat and its habits. 



SPICEBUSH 



Benzoin aestivale (L.) Nees [Plate I] 



Dwelling in deep, damp woods from Maine 

 and Ontario to Kansas and Carolina, the spice- 

 bush, with its dainty yellow flowers and its 

 seductive odor, is a real harbinger of spring. 

 Flowering from March to May, its blossoms 

 arrive even before the pussy-willow wakes up, 

 and vie with the shadbush in the promptness 

 of their advent. When they first appear, the 

 flowers nestle close to the bare branches. 



One species of the spicebush is found in 

 abundance in eastern Asia. On account of the 

 toughness of the wood and its aromatic fra- 

 grance, natives prize it for toothpicks. A new 

 perfume, called Kuromoji, made from the 

 essential oil of this plant, is now much in de- 

 mand. 



This shrub has several aliases — ''Benjamin- 

 bush," "wild allspice," and "fever-bush." 



The sassafras is closely related to the spice- 

 bush, both playing host to the caterpillar of 

 the swallow-tail butterfly. 



The spicebush played its role in the Revolu- 

 tionary War. Allspice w r as kept out of the 

 American market, and the women of the times 

 used the powdered berries of this plant as a 

 substitute. During the Civil War its leaves 

 were used in making a brew that took the 

 place of tea. 



BLACK ALDER 

 Ilex verticillata (L.) A. Gray [Plate I] 



Flowering in June and July, from Nova 

 Scotia to Florida and westward to Missouri, 

 the black alder, a member of the holly family, 

 so gladdens the months of snow and ice with 

 its bright fruit that it is often known as the 

 "winter-berry." Long after the frost has turned 

 the leaves black and sent them away to enrich 

 the soil for another summer's coming, its abun- 

 dant red berries, clinging to leafless branches, 

 dissipate the desolation of many a winter scene. 



The black alder is a handsome shrub, grow- 

 ing from 5 to 10 feet high, with dull, warm 

 gray bark and nearly vertical stems and 

 branches. It flourishes especially in low, 

 swampy ground, in Virginia sometimes reach- 

 ing a height of 25 feet. 



This species has qualities that have won for 

 it a place in materia medica. The bark is dark, 

 cloudy gray in color, bitter to the taste, and 

 astringent in its action. An infusion made 

 from it, or even from the leaves, has been 

 found to possess tonic and alterative proper- 

 ties. The berries are purgative in their action 

 and serve as a vermifuge, forming one of the 

 pleasantest adjuvants in children's remedies. 



During the Civil War the Southern people 

 were hard pressed for medicines. A survey of 

 the herbal resources of Dixie was made, and 

 the berries and bark of the black alder were 

 especially commended. They were used in the 

 treatment of intermittent fevers and diseases 

 which developed as a result of debilitated con- 

 stitutions, especially gangrene and mortifica- 

 tion, and as astringents for ulcers and chronic 

 cutaneous diseases. 



Just now the black alder is making a strong 

 bid for favor as a cultivated plant. Showing 

 a great mass of color, holding its berries longer 

 than almost any other species, possessing at- 

 tractive foliage that never grows shabby, it is 

 ideal for decorative^purposes. 



AMERICAN MOUNTAIN ASH 

 Sorbus americana Marsh [Plate I] 



The outstanding fact about the mountain ash 

 is that it is really not an ash at all, but belongs 

 to the rose family. That family is not less 

 famous for its fruits than for its flowers; for 

 blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries are 

 as delightful to the palate as roses, or cinque- 

 foils, meadow-sweets, hardhacks, avens, or sil- 

 ver-weeds can be to the eye. Goatsbeard and 

 ipecacs are likewise members of the same ver- 

 satile family, as are also queen-of-the-prairie 

 and the agrimony. 



There are about thirty species of ash of the 

 Sorbus group. Flourishing from Labrador to 

 Manitoba, and reaching south of the latitude 

 of New York and the Great Lakes only where 

 it can find mountains, the tree grows on rocky 

 bluffs with wild plums and straggling beeches, 

 attaining a height of from 20 to 40 feet. 



The flowers appear in May and June in 

 great masses or panicles of white. The leaf 

 turns a bright, clear yellow in the fall. The 

 berries, to which many a bird has flown for 

 salvation in a snowy spell, remain on the trees 



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