344 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
tures, of a light green above, paler and finely reticulated be- 
neath. 
The flowers are very small, on long, slender, thread-like 
stalks, solitary or in bunches, at the base of a tuft of leaves or 
a young branch. The calyx is so small that it seems to be 
wanting. The corolla consists of four oblong, narrow petals, 
of pale white, which soon fall. The four stamens alternate 
with the petals, with rather large anthers on long, slender fila- 
ments. The berry is as large as a pea, of a beautiful pale crim- 
son color, ripe in August, and contains four, somewhat prisma- 
tic, stony nuts, in a yellowish pulp. It is supported by a stalk 
of the same color, an inch or more long. The flowers expand 
in May and June. 
The Nemopanthus is found in almost all the low, wet woods 
in the vicinity of Boston and on the southern side of Massachu- 
setts Bay, aud in the middle of the State. It is found in Cana- 
da, throughout New England, and in New York and Michigan. 
XVI. 3. THE WINTER BERRY. PRINOS.  L. 
The winter berry is a genus of twelve or thirteen species of 
shrubs, some of them evergreen, some deciduous, natives of 
North America. They differ from the two preceding genera in 
having their calyx and corolla usually six-parted, with six sta- 
mens, and a berry with six seeds. Some of the most beautiful 
are natives of Massachusetts, and these, with a few others, are 
cultivated in Europe as ornamental shrubs. The three found 
here are the Black Alder, P. verticillatus, with flowers and fruit 
in clusters in the axil of the leaves; the Single-berry Black 
Alder, P. levigdius, with its flowers and fruits larger and soli- 
tary; and the Ink-berry, P. glaber, with evergreen leaves. 
sp. 1. Tse Brack Auper. P. verticilldtaus. LL. 
Figured in Bigelow’s Medical Botany, Plate 56. 
A handsome shrub, five or six, rarely ten or twelve, feet high, 
with crowded branches and leaves, conspicuous for its bunches 
of axillary blossoms, and of scarlet berries, remaining late in the 
autumn or even into the winter. The recent shoots are clothed 
