
298 PLANTS GROWING IN WASTE SOIL. 
mous flowers. It does not, however, hide them at its base as 
though ashamed for them to be seen. The leaves clasp the 
stem tightly and look like little shells in which lie three closed 
buds. They never open and are very fruitful, It seems as 
though the plant held them in the hollow of its hand. It is 
only the fortunate ones that reach the top of the stem that 
unfold the dainty blossom. 
S. diflora is the small Venus’s looking-glass. It grows from 
Virginia southward and westward, and blooms from April 
until July. 
GREEN-BRIER. CATBRIER. HORSE-BRIER. 
Smilax rotundifolia. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Smtlax. Greenish white. Scentiess. New England to Florida. April-June. 
Flowers: small; imperfect; growingin umbels. Perzanth : of six divisions. 
Staminate blossoms with six stamens; pistillate ones with three diverging 
stigmas and a three-celled ovary. Leaves: alternate; on petioles, roundish ; 
pointed. Stem: four-angled ; prickly. 
The catbrier is a very near relative of S. herbacea, page roo, 
with infinitely better manners, as it does not taint the lovely. 
spring days with a disagreeable odour. Its sharp prickles, 
however, are very vicious and by far too much in sympathy 
with barbed-wire fences to allow of the plant ever being a great 
favourite. Its dark berries and many-tinted leaves are most 
beautiful in the autumn. 
BITTER SWEET. WAX-=WORK. 
Celdstrus scandens, 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Staff-tree. Cream white. Scentless.. General. June. 
Flowers : small; imperfect; growing in raceme-like clusters. Petals, sepals, 
and stamens: five. Pustid: one. Fruit: orange-red; of three rounded 
divisions that burst open and display the seeds within. ZLeaves: alternate; 
oblong; thin; toothed; smooth. A shrub, twining; woody. 
In common with cat-tails ; the silky pompons made from 
milkweed pods and’ numerous sedges ; the exquisite berries of 
the bitter sweet have appealed loudly to the decorative in- 
