490         CN  THE  BARK  OF  EUONYMUS  ATROPURPUREUS. 
ON  THE  BARK  OF  EUONYMUS  ATROPURPUREUS. 
By  William  P.  Clothier. 
(Extracted  from  an  Inaugural  Essay.) 
The  plant  producing  this  bark  is  a  small  tree  or  shrub,  tall 
and  upright,  leaves  petioled,  oval,  oblong,  pointed  ;  the  flowers 
commonly  in  fours ;  sepals  4  or  5,  united  at  the  base,  forming  a 
short  and  flat  calyx  ;  petals  4-5  rounding,  spreading  ;  stamens 
very  short,  inserted  on  the  upper  face  of  a  broad  and  flat,  4  to 
5-  angled  disk,  which  coheres  ^^ith  the  calyx  and  is  stretched 
over  the  ovary.    Style  short  or  none.     Pods  3  to  6-lobed,  3  to 
6-  valved,  smooth.     Seeds  one  to  two  in  each  cell,  enclosed  in 
red  aril.     The  leaves  are  serrate,  and  the  flowers,  which  are 
in  loose  axillary  cymes,  are  of  a  dark  purple  color. 
At  the  close  of  Autumn  this  tree  is  conspicuous  and  orna- 
mental from  its  clusters  of  crimson  fruit.     Though  frequently 
