HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



serrate, pointed, on short petioles, rather thick, dark green above, 

 downy along the veins underneath. Flowers, of two kinds, all 

 with short peduncles. Staminate flowers with a calyx of 6 small 

 sepals with fringed margins, crowded in clusters of 3 to 12 in the 

 leaf-axils. Pistillate flowers, 1 to 3 in the axils, with a corolla of 

 6 or 7 spreading recurved petals. These have false stamens, 

 with white filaments and anthers containing no pollen. Fruit, 

 bright, scarlet berries, each filled with 6 or 8 seeds. The berries 

 remain, clustered along the stem, after leaves have fallen. 



This shrub, so attractive in fall, is very common in thickets 

 bordering roadsides — those thickets which should be left as 

 coverts for our birds. The careful farmer who clears away 

 all his shrubbery will have few song birds around his place, 

 and on that account he will have plenty of insects. 



Smooth Winterberry 



/♦ laevigata.. — A fine shrub of the Holly Family, with flowers 

 in the axils, the sterile on peduncles 1 inch long, the fertile nearly 

 sessile. Fruit is a conspicuous, orange red berry. Leaves, alter- 

 nate, on short petioles, lance-shape or oblong, pointed at both ends, 

 smooth, thin, light green on both sides, 1 to 2 inches long. June. 



Shrub 5 to 10 feet high, with grayish branches, found from 

 Maine to Virginia and in the mountains of North Carolina, in 

 wet places, as swamps. 



Inkberry 



/. glabra. — An elegant shrub with delicate foliage, often culti- 

 vated. Leaves, thick, evergreen, dark green above, pale, dotted 

 beneath, lance - shape or oblong, pointed at apex, tapering at 

 base, slightly toothed above the middle. Fertile flowers, white, 

 single in the axils, on minute, hairy peduncles; sterile clustered, 

 3 to 6 in a cluster. Calyx and corolla, 6 or 7-lobed. Stamens, 

 with white filaments and brown anthers. Berries, black, shining. 

 June and July. 



A low shrub, 2 to 6 feet high, growing in sandy soil not far 

 from the coast, from Massachusetts to Florida. 



Cassena. Yaupon 



L ifomitdria. — Leaves, small, finely crenate, oval, evergreen, 

 pale green beneath. Staminate flowers with short peduncles, 

 pistillate sessile. Berries, small, round, red. May. 



The leaves make a tea for people living along the coast, and 

 the Indians of North Carolina formerly made a " black drink " 

 of them. Virginia to Florida and westward, 



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