THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
conception of the beauty- displayed by this lowly shrub. 
So small are the flowers that it is only the young botan- 
izer with a lens, bent on examining the minute structure 
of the plant in order to ferret out its 
f) name, that really has a chance to see it. 
five-angled flower bud. At the time ot blooming these 
tips do not fold back, as in other flowers, but In' pulling 
slightly apart manage to leav^e room enough between for 
the petals to slip through which they immediately do, 
being helped thereto ])y the impatient stamens, one of 
whicli stands before each of the petals and is enft^lded by 
it. After the jjetals are tree of the calyx they extend on 
longclaws at right angles to the axis of the flower. Their 
blades are hooded and"some writers who have not looktd 
closely assert that they enclose the stamens when in 
flower, but this is an error as anyone can ste for himseh". 
Like many of its near allies in the mapie and stafl-iice 
families, the ovary is surrounded at base by a fleshy disk. 
When the flower ceases blooming the upper half of the 
calyx, only, falls au ay, the rest, vVith the disk, forming a 
shallow little saucer in which the three angled ovary 
swells to maturit3'. 
The seeds are rijje in late autumn and are distributed 
by proj)ulsion after a fashion that ft)r oddity and origin- 
ality (iuitc puts the witch-hazel out of the race. In the 
late afternoon of a quiet autumn day, after most of the 
leaves have fallen, one may hear the constant patter of 
the tailing seeds about him and detect the faint snap of 
the disv-h.ar-ce. but I will venture that unless he is let into 
the secret lie will spend more than one afternoon before he 
discovers the way in which the seeds arc scattcretl. All the 
l-jouks say that the fruit splits into three carpels when ripe 
As befits so small a blossom, desirous 
of being seen by insects, all parts of the 
flower, even the pedicel that supports 
it, is pale cream-color. The calyx is 
bell-shaped and erect, with the tips of 
the divisions curved inward, making a 
