120 



"WEEDS AXD USEFUL FLAXTS. 



the celebrated Laurel Water, a poisou Avhicli owes its deadly properties 

 to the large amount of prussic-acid it contains. 



4. SPIEJE'A, L. Meadow-sweet. 



[Greek, Speirao, to wind ; from its fitness to form garlands.] 



Calyx 5-cleft, persistent. Petals 5, 6b ovate. Stamens 10-50. Pods 

 (follicles) 3-5 or more, each 2- 4- or many-seeded. Shrubs or herbs ; 

 leaves simple, sometimes lobed or even pinnately dissected. 



1. S. opulifo'lia, L. Leaves roundish ovate and 34obed, doubly cre- 

 nate-serrate ; flowers corymbose; follicles inflated, 2-4-seeded. 



OpuLus-LEATED SpiE^A. Niuc Bark 



Shml 3-10 feet high, with spreading branches, and a loose lamellated hark, the nume- 

 rous layers suggesting the popular name. Leaves 1-2 inches in length, and nearly as wida 

 as long, usually 3-lobed ; petioles half an Inch to three-quarters in length. Corymbs suh- 

 umbellate, convex, crowded, hoary pubescent when young ; common peduncles half an 

 inch to an inch long. Flowers wliite, often tinged with purple. Carpels 3-5, connate 

 below, acuminate ; seeds nbovoid. 



Margins of streams. June. 



Obs. A very showy ornamental species, which grows readily from 

 cuttings, and should be generally cultivated. Sometimes called " Nine- 

 Bark Syringa." 



2. S. tomento'sa, L. Stem and lower surface of the leaves covered 

 with a rusty-colored wool ; leaves ovate or oblong, serrate ; racemes iu 

 a dense elongated panicle ; carpels 5, woolly. 



"VYooLLY Spir.^a. Hardback. Steeple Bush. 



stem 2-3 feet high, brittle, clothed with an easily separable wool. Leaves 1-2 inches 

 long, on very short petioles ; the upper surface of a bright green color in marked contrast 

 to the often nearly white under surface. Floivers pale purple. 



New England — Georgia ; more rare southward. July -August. 



Obs. This plant possesses considerable astringency, and is in com- 

 mon use in New England as a domestic remedy in diarrhoea and other 

 complaints where astringents are required. It is a really beautiful spe- 

 cies, and as it is much improved by cultivation, it quite as much de- 

 serves a place in the garden as some of the rarer kinds. Many other 

 species of this genus are well known and justly admired ornamental 

 plants ; among them are S. ulmifolia (Meadow-Sweet), S. filifen- 

 DULA (Drop-wort), which are herbaceous, and several slii^ubby ones, * 



5. GE'UM, L. AvExs. , 



rCreek, geuo, to relish, or taste weU ; the roots being rather aromatic] 

 Calyx concave, 5-cleft, usually with a bractlet at each cleft. Petals 5. 

 Stamens numerous. Akenes numerous, in a head ; styles long, persistent, 

 tailed, and after flowering hooked at the summit. Perennial herbs; 

 leaves pseudo-pinnate or lyrate. 



1. G. riva'le, L. Eadical leaves, interruptedly pinnate, the terminal 



