120 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



the celebrated Laurel Water, a poison which owes its deadly properties 

 to the large amount of prussic-acid it contains. * 



4. SPIR-^'A, L. Meadow-sweet. 



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



Calyx 5-cleft, persistent. Petals 5, obovate. 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 3-lobed, doubly cre- 

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



OpuLus-LEAVED SpiRjjA. Nine Bark 



ShrvJ) 3-10 feet high, with spreading branches, and a loose lamellated bark, the nume- 

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

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

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

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

 below, acuminate ; seeds obovoid. 



Margins of streams. Jane. 



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 in 

 a dense elongated panicle ; carpels 5, woolly. 



Woolly Spir^a. Hardback. Steeple Bush. 



>S;e)ri 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. Flowers 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. felipen- 

 DULA (Drop-wort), which are herbaceous, and several shrubby ones. * 



5. GE'UM, L. AvEx\s. , 



[Greek, geuo, to relish, or taste well ; 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, Kadical leaves, interruptedly pinnate, the terminal 



