no 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
Christmas for decking churches and houses. This custom is very ancient, and it is said it can be traced back 
to the time of the Druids. The flowers of the Holly, which are small and white, appear in May, and they 
are succeeded by the berries, which ripen in autumn, and remain on all the winter. The berries are of a bright 
scarlet when ripe; they are slightly fleshy on the outside, and each contains four seeds. The tree grows very 
slowly; its wood is remarkably hard and fine-grained; and its bark, from which bird-lime is made, is very 
smooth. The Holly is common in every part of England, and some of the largest native trees are probably those 
in the New Forest in Hampshire. 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
THE CELASTRUS FAMILY. (Celastrine-e, JR. Brovin.) 
Character of the Order. —Sepals four or five, imbricated, inserted 
into the margin of an expanded torus. Petals inserted by a broad 
base, under the margin of the disk, with an imbricated aestivation. 
Stamens alternate with the petals, inserted into the disk, either at the 
margin or within it; anthers innate. Disk large, expanded, fiat, 
closely surrounding the ovarium, covering the flat expanded torus. 
Ovarium superior, immersed in the disk and adhering to it, with three 
or four cells; cells one or many seeded; ovules ascending from the 
Description, &c. —The plant from which this order takes its name is not a native of Britain, but of 
America ; and the only British plant belonging to it is the Euonymus, or Spindle-tree. 
axis, attached to a short funiculus. Fruit superior; either a three or 
four-celled capsule, with three or four septiferous valves ; or a dry 
drupe with a one or two celled nut, the cells of which are one or many 
seeded. Seeds ascending, seldom inverted by resupination, either pro¬ 
vided with an arillus or without one ; albumen fleshy; embryo 
straight ; cotyledons flat and thick, with a short inferior radicle. 
Shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate or opposite. Flowers in axillary 
cymes. ( Lindley .) 
GENUS I. 
THE SPINDLE-TREE. (Euonymus, Lin.) 
Lin. Syst. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character. —Calyx 4- 6 lobed, flat, with a peltate disk in 
the bottom. Petals 4-6, spreading, inserted in the disk. Stamens 4-6, 
inserted into glands projecting from the disk, alternate with the petals. 
Style one. Capsule three or five celled, with three or five angles; 
dehiscence loculioidal. Seeds from one to four, with a fleshy arillus. 
Embryo green, straight, in the axis of a fleshy albumen. Shrubs with 
square branches. Leaves generally opposite. Peduncles axillary. 
{Lindley.) 
Description, &c.—The plants belonging to this genus are remarkable for the singular manner in which the 
seeds are suspended from the capsule by means of a fleshy arillus ; both the capsule and the arillus being of 
brilliant colours and quite distinct. Two very different origins are given to the name of Euonymus; some 
botanists deriving it from two Greek words signifying a good name, and others from Euonyme , the mother of the 
Furies, in allusion to noxious effects produced by eating the fruit of the plant. The genus is placed in the 
Linnman class Pentandria, on account of its five stamens ; and in the order Monogynia, from its single style. 
1.—THE COMMON SPINDLE-TREE, OR PRICKWOOD. (Euonymus europajus, Lin.) 
Engravings.— Eng. Bot., t. 362 ; 2nd ed., t. 337 ; and our fig. 2, j Specific Character.— Flowers mostly 4-cleft, Petals acute, 
in PL 25. I Branches smooth and even. (Smith.) 
Description, &c. —This species is common in most parts of England, and in the South of Ireland, but it is 
seldom found in Scotland. The flowers appear early in May ; but they are not at all ornamental, though the 
fruit is very much so, from its brilliant colours. There is, however, a variety with white fruit. The branches are 
