362 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
tapering to a long point, serrate, of a dull, dark green above 
whitish pubescent beneath. 
The common flower-stalk is stout, long, and channelled, bear- 
ing a cyme of several pairs of alternating opposite, horizontal 
stalks, repeatedly dividing by twos or threes, at as large an 
angle as possible, so as to form a pyramidal head or thyrsus, 
two or three inches long. At the fifth division, are the flowers 
in pairs or threes, on short stems. The fruit, which is ripe in 
June and July, is a round, scarlet berry, surmounted by the 
three stigmas and the five obtuse segments of the calyx, and 
containing a yellowish, unpleasantly tasted, liquid pulp, and 
three stones or nuts. The variety with seven leaflets, more 
uncommon, has its leaflets nearly sessile, and is usually a much 
taller plant. 
Drs. Torrey and Gray mention a variety found in the Catskill 
Mountains, with white berries. They have sometimes found 
the plant a small tree, eighteen feet high. 'The common variety 
is found in Worcester County, in the towns on every side of 
the Wachusett Mountain. 
Sp. 2. Taz Common Exper. SS. Canadensis. L. 
Found in every part of the State and throughout Canada and 
the United States. It is a shrub, eight to ten feet high, growing 
in wet ground, and conspicuous in June and July for its broad 
cymes of white flowers. The leaf-stalks, flower-stalks and 
leaves are much smaller than in the preceding species. The 
stem is covered witha grayish bark, marked with prominent 
dots of the same color. Recent shoots smooth and green. 
Leaves opposite, compound, with a smooth stalk, channelled 
above. Leaflets from five to eleven, on short stalks, oblong, 
ovate or obovate or elliptic, round at base, tapering to a long, 
acute point, serrate with large, hooked serratures, paler be- 
neath, nearly smooth on both surfaces, when the fruit is mature, 
downy beneath when young. 
Flowers white, in broad cymes five to seven inches across, 
on long, channelled, tapering stalks, divided and subdivided by 
