SPINDLE-TREE FAMILY 



109 



valves ; seeds solitary in each chamber. (Name from the Greek 

 euonumos, lucky, in allusion to the poisonous character of the fruit, 

 as fairies are called " good people," from fear.) 



1. E. europceus (Common Spindle-tree, Prickwood). — A shrub 

 well marked by its smooth, green, angular branches ; glossy, ovate- 

 lanceolate, minutely serrated leaves; loose clusters of small 



FRUIT OF eu6nymus europ^eus (Common Spindle-tree). 



greenish, usually tetramerous, flowers; and, above all, by its 

 deeply-lobed capsules, which, when ripe, are rose-coloured, and 

 split so as to disclose the seeds covered by a scarlet aril, which 

 Tennyson describes as — 



"The fruit that in our autumn woodlands looks a flower." 



The wood was formerly used for skewers, spindles, and charcoal. 

 — Fl May, June. 



