350 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
covered with lichens. The recent shoots are tough; the pith 
considerable; the older wood light and brittle. 
The leaves are opposite, or in threes, of a broad-oval, or 
lanceolate, or ovate shape, very entire, acute at base, pointed at 
the extremity, sometimes wavy at the border, smooth on both 
surfaces, of a bright, shining green above, light and much 
reticulate, and sometimes downy on the veins beneath; and 
tough and leathery in texture. They are from three to five 
inches in length, of somewhat more than half that breadth, 
and are on stout, channelled, or bordered footstalks, from half 
an inch to an inch long. Between the footstalks are small, 
faded stipules, which leave a slight scar when removed. 
The globular heads of flowers are on round stalks from one inch 
to three inches long, terminal, or in the axil of the upper leaves, 
and hence solitary, or in twos, or threes, or fours, on the ends of 
the branches; or, as the leaves of the upper whorl are some- 
times very minute, they appear in terminal sevens. The flow- 
ers appear in June and July, sometimes in August, of a yellow- 
ish white, bristling with the long styles, and as they are closely 
arranged on every side of a small, terminal, globular, fleshy re- 
ceptacle, they form a spherical head, each flower being com- 
pressed into the shape of a four-sided, inverted pyramid. 'The 
calyx is short, green, tubular, externally invested with long, 
silken hairs, is angular from compression, and ends in four 
rounded lobes. ‘The corolla, when freshly opened, is of a deli- 
cate white, but soon turns brown. It 1s a slender, tapering tube, 
hairy within, twice as long as the calyx, ending in four, rounded 
segments, with black points, on short footstalks, at the angles, 
just within which are the anthers, resting erect on the end of 
filaments which are attached to the tube of the corolla within. 
The style is twice as long as the corolla, tapering, and ending 
in an ovate stigma. 
‘Button bush, or river bush, is a frequent ornament of the 
water side, its insulated thickets furnishing a safe retreat for 
the nests of the black bird, (Oriolus pheniceus).”’ ‘The ap- 
pearance of this shrub, on elevated ground, often indicates the 
presence of springs of water.”—Bigelow FV. 51. It is culti- 
vated in Europe for ornament, recommending itself by its sin- 
