Chapter XLI: Section 1: Polypetalæ. Corolla of separate petals (16)

Leaves persistent or tardily deciduous, 9—19-foliolate, with a slightly winged rachis pubescent above and a flattened narrow-winged petiole ½′—¾′ in length; leaflets spatulate, rounded and often mucronate at apex, gradually narrowed below into a deltoid or subcuneiform base, entire, more or less curved and unequilateral, wine-red when they unfold, and at maturity thin, dark green and sparingly pubescent along the midrib above, pale and glabrous below, nearly sessile or the terminal leaflet raised on a short petiolule, 5/12′—¾′ long and about ¼′ wide, with a slender midrib often near one side of the leaflet and reticulate veinlets. Flowers small, without a calyx, appearing just before or with the new leaves, in simple nearly glabrous panicles, their bracts and bractlets ciliate on the margins and wine-red at apex; staminate flowers more crowded than the pistillate, in compact panicles ¾′—1½′ long; anthers reddish yellow or wine color; pistillate flowers in loose panicles 1½′—2½′ in length; ovary ovoid or subglobose, two of the three styles with 2-lobed stigmas, the third with a 3-lobed stigma. Fruit oval, dark reddish brown and slightly glaucescent, about ¼′ long and ⅙′ broad, usually striate.

A small tree, occasionally 30° high with a short trunk 15′—18′ in diameter, with stout erect and spreading branches forming a head sometimes 30°—35° across, and slender slightly pubescent reddish branchlets becoming grayish brown by the end of their first year; more often a large shrub with numerous stout stems.

Distribution. Texas, limestone cliffs and the rocky bottoms of cañons periodically swept by floods, and in deep narrow ravines, along the lower Pecos River and in the neighborhood of its mouth, Valverde County; and in northeastern Mexico.

2. COTINUS L.

Small trees or shrubs, with scaly bark, small acute winter-buds, with numerous imbricated scales, fleshy roots, and strong-smelling juice. Leaves simple, petiolate, oval, obovate-oblong or nearly orbicular, glabrous or more or less pilose-pubescent, deciduous. Flowers regular, diœcious by abortion or rarely polygamo-diœcious, greenish yellow, on slender pedicels accrescent after the flowering period, mostly abortive and then becoming conspicuously tomentose-villose at maturity, in ample loose terminal or lateral pyramidal or thyrsoidal panicles, the branches from the axils of linear acute or spatulate deciduous bracts; calyx-lobes ovate-lanceolate, obtuse, persistent; disk coherent with the base of the calyx and surrounding the base of the ovary; petals oblong, acute, twice as long as the calyx, inserted under the free margin of the disk opposite its lobes, deciduous; stamens shorter than the petals, usually rudimentary or wanting in the pistillate flower; ovary sessile, obovoid, compressed, rudimentary in the staminate flower; styles 3, short and spreading from the lateral apex of the ovary; stigmas large, obtuse. Fruit oblong-oblique, compressed, glabrous, conspicuously reticulate-veined, light red-brown, bearing on the side near the middle the remnants of the persistent styles, the outer coat thin and dry; stone thick and bony.

Cotinus is widely distributed through southern Europe and the Himalayas to central China with a single species, and is represented in the southern United States by one species.

The Old World _Cotinus coggygria_ Scop., the Smoke-tree of gardens, is often cultivated in the United States.

The generic name is from Κότινος, the classical name of a tree with red wood.

1. Cotinus americanus Nutt. Chittam Wood.

Leaves oval or obovate, rounded or sometimes slightly emarginate at apex, gradually contracted at base, and entire, with slightly wavy revolute margins, when they unfold light purple and covered below with fine silky white hairs, and at maturity dark green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, and puberulous along the under side of the broad midrib and primary veins, 4′—6′ long and 2′—3′ wide; turning in the autumn brilliant shades of orange and scarlet; petioles stout, ½′—¾′ in length. Flowers appearing late in April or early in May on pedicels ½′—¾′ long, and usually collected 3 or 4 together in loose umbels near the end of the principal branches of puberulous terminal slender long-branched few-flowered panicles 5′—6′ long and 2½′—3′ broad, the staminate and pistillate flowers on different individuals. Fruit produced very sparingly, about ⅛′ long, on stems 2′—3′ in length; the sterile pedicels becoming 1½′—2′ long at maturity and covered with short not very abundant rather inconspicuous pale purple or brown hairs; seed kidney-shaped, pale brown, about 1/16′ long.

A tree, 25°—35° high, with a straight trunk occasionally 12′—14′ in diameter, usually dividing 12°—14° from the ground into several erect stems separating into wide-spreading often slightly pendulous branches, and slender branchlets purple when they first appear, soon becoming green, bright red-brown and covered with small white lenticels and marked by large prominent leaf-scars during their first winter, and dark orange-colored in their second year. Winter-buds ⅛′ long, and covered with thin dark red-brown scales. Bark of the trunk ⅛′ thick, light gray, furrowed, and broken on the surface into thin oblong scales. Wood light, soft, rather coarse-grained, bright clear rich orange color, with thin nearly white sapwood; largely used locally for fence-posts and very durable in contact with the soil; yielding a clear orange-colored dye.

Distribution. Banks of the Ohio River, Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky (_E. J. Palmer_); on the Cheat Mountains, eastern Tennessee; near Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama; valley of White River in Stone and Taney Counties, southern Missouri; near Cotter, Baxter County, and Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas, and eastern Oklahoma; valleys of the upper Guadalupe and Medina Rivers, western Texas; usually only in small isolated groves or thickets scattered along the sides of rocky ravines or dry slopes; very abundant as a small shrub and spreading over many thousand acres of the mountain cañons, and high hillsides in the neighborhood of Spanish Pass, Kendall County, Texas.

Occasionally cultivated in the eastern United States and rarely in Europe; hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts.

3. METOPIUM P. Br.

Trees or shrubs, with naked buds, fleshy roots, and milky exceedingly caustic juice. Leaves unequally pinnate, persistent; leaflets coriaceous, lustrous, long-petiolulate. Flowers diœcious, yellow-green, on short stout pedicels, in narrow erect axillary clusters at the ends of the branches, with minute acute deciduous bracts and bractlets, the males and females on different trees; calyx-lobes semiorbicular, about half as long as the ovate obtuse petals; stamens 5, inserted under the margin of the disk; filaments shorter than the anthers, minute and rudimentary in the pistillate flower; ovary ovoid, sessile, minute in the staminate flower; style terminal, short, undivided; stigma 3-lobed. Fruit ovoid, compressed, smooth and glabrous, crowned with the remnants of the style; outer coat thick and resinous; stone crustaceous. Seed nearly quadrangular, compressed; seed-coat smooth, dark brown and opaque, the broad funicle covering its margin.

Metopium with two species is confined to southern Florida and the West Indies.

The generic name, from ὄπος, was the classical name of an African tree now unknown.

1. Metopium toxiferum Kr. & Urb. Poison Wood. Hog Gum.

_Metopium Metopium_ Small.

Leaves clustered near the end of the branches, 9′—10′ long, with stout petioles swollen and enlarged at base, and 5—7 leaflets, or often 3-foliolate; unfolding in March and persistent until the following spring; leaflets ovate, rounded or usually contracted toward the acute or sometimes slightly emarginate apex, rounded or sometimes cordate or cuneate at base, 3′—4′ long, 2′—3′ broad, with thickened slightly revolute margins, a prominent midrib, primary veins spreading at right angles, and numerous reticulate veinlets; petiolules stout, ½′—1′ long, that of the terminal leaflet often twice as long as the others. Flowers about ⅛′ in diameter, in clusters as long or rather longer than the leaves; petals yellow-green, marked on the inner surface by dark longitudinal lines; stamens rather shorter than the petals. Fruit ripening in November and December, pendent in long graceful clusters, orange-colored, rather lustrous, ¾′ in length; seed about ¼′ long.

A tree, frequently 35°—40° high, with a short trunk sometimes 2° in diameter, stout spreading often pendulous branches forming a low broad head, and reddish brown branchlets marked by prominent leaf-scars and numerous orange-colored lenticels. Winter-buds ⅓′—½′ in length, with acuminate scales ciliate on the margin with rufous hairs. Bark of the trunk about ⅛′ thick, light reddish brown tinged with orange, often marked by dark spots caused by the exuding of the resinous gum, and separating into large thin plate-like scales displaying the bright orange color of the inner bark. Wood heavy, hard, not strong, rich dark brown streaked with red, with thick light brown or yellow sapwood of 25—30 layers of annual growth. The resinous gum obtained from incisions made in the bark is emetic, purgative, and diuretic.

Distribution. Florida, shores of Bay Biscayne, on the Everglade Keys, and on Coot Bay in the rear of Cape Sable, Dade County, and on the southern keys; very abundant; in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, and Honduras.

4. RHUS L.

Trees or shrubs, with pithy branchlets, fleshy roots, and milky sometimes caustic or watery juice. Leaves unequally pinnate, or rarely simple. Flowers mostly diœcious, rarely polygamous, white or greenish white, in more or less compound axillary or terminal panicles, the staminate and pistillate usually produced on separate plants; calyx-lobes united at base only, generally persistent; disk surrounding the base of the free ovary, coherent with the base of the calyx; petals longer than the calyx-lobes, inserted under the margin of the disk, opposite its lobes, deciduous; stamens 5, inserted on the margin of the disk alternate with the petals; filaments longer than the anthers; ovary ovoid or subglobose, sessile; styles 3, terminal, free or slightly connate at base, rising from the centre of the ovary. Fruit usually globose, smooth or covered with hairs; outer coat thin and dry, more or less resinous; stone crustaceous or bony. Seed ovoid or reniform, commonly transverse; cotyledons foliaceous, generally transverse; radicle long, uncinate, laterally accumbent.

Rhus is widely distributed, with more than one hundred species, in the extra-tropical regions of the northern and southern hemispheres. In North America the genus is widely and generally distributed from Canada to southern Mexico and from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Pacific Ocean, with sixteen or seventeen species within the territory of the United States. Of these, four obtain the habit of small trees. The acrid poisonous juice of _Rhus vernicifera_ DC., of China, furnishes the black varnish used in China and Japan in the manufacture of lacquer, and other species are valued for the tannin contained in their leaves or for the wax obtained from their fruit.

The name of the genus is from Ῥοῦς, the classical name of the European Sumach.

CONSPECTUS OF NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Flowers in terminal thyrsoid panicles; fruit globular, clothed with
acrid hairs; leaves unequally pinnate, deciduous; Sumachs.
Branches and leaf-stalks densely velvety hairy; leaflets 11—31, pale
on the lower surface; fruit covered with long hairs; buds
inclosed in the enlarged base of the petioles; juice milky.
1. R. typhina (A, C).
Branches and leaf-stalks pubescent; rachis winged; leaflets 9—21,
green on the lower surface; fruit pilose; buds not inclosed by
the petioles; juice watery.
2. R. copallina (A, C).
Flowers in axillary slender panicles; fruit glabrous, white; leaves
unequally pinnate, deciduous; leaflets 7—13.
3. R. vernix (A, C).
Flowers in short compact terminal panicled racemes; fruit pubescent;
leaves ovate, entire or serrate, simple or rarely trifoliolate,
persistent.
4. R. integrifolia (G).

1. Rhus typhina L. Staghorn Sumach.

_Rhus hirta_ Sudw.

Leaves 16′—24′ long, with a stout petiole usually red on the upper side and covered with soft pale hairs, enlarged at base and surrounding and inclosing the bud developed in its axil, and 11—31 oblong often falcate rather remotely and sharply serrate or rarely laciniate long-pointed nearly sessile or short-stalked leaflets rounded or slightly heart-shaped at base, covered above like the petiole and young shoots when they first appear with red caducous hairs, bright yellow-green until half grown, and at maturity dark green and rather opaque on the upper surface, pale or often nearly white on the lower surface, glabrous with the exception of the short fine hairs on the under side of the stout midrib, and primary veins forked near the margins, opposite, or the lower leaflets slightly alternate, those of the 3 or 4 middle pairs considerably longer than those at the ends of the leaf, 2′—5′ long, and 1′—1½′ wide; turning in the autumn before falling bright scarlet with shades of crimson, purple, and orange. Flowers opening gradually and in succession in early summer, the pistillate a week or ten days later than the staminate, on slender pedicels from the axils of small acute pubescent bracts, in dense panicles, with a pubescent stem and branchlets, and acuminate bracts ½′ to nearly 2′ long and deciduous with the opening of the flowers; panicle of the staminate flowers 8′—12′ long and 5′—6′ broad, with wide-spreading branches and nearly one third larger than the more compact panicle of the pistillate plant; calyx-lobes acute, covered on the outer surface with long slender hairs, much shorter than the petals in the staminate flower, and almost as long in the pistillate flower; petals of the staminate flower yellow-green sometimes tinged with red, strap-shaped, rounded at apex, becoming reflexed above the middle at maturity; petals of the pistillate flower green, narrow and acuminate, with a thickened and slightly hooded apex, remaining erect; disk bright red and conspicuous; stamens slightly exserted, with slender filaments and large bright orange-colored anthers; ovary ovoid, pubescent, the 3 short styles slightly connate at base, with large capitate stigmas, in the staminate flower glabrous, much smaller, unusually rudimentary. Fruit fully grown and colored in August and ripening late in the autumn in dense panicles 6′—8′ long and 2′—3′ wide, depressed-globose, with a thin outer covering clothed with long acrid crimson hairs and a small pale brown bony stone; seed slightly reniform, orange-brown.

A tree, occasionally 35°—40° high, with copious white viscid juice turning black on exposure, a slender often slightly inclining trunk occasionally 12′—14′ in diameter, stout upright often contorted branches forming a low flat open head, and thick branchlets covered with long soft brown hairs gathered also in tufts in the axils of the leaflets, becoming glabrous after their third or fourth year, and in their second season marked by large narrow leaf-scars and by small orange-colored lenticels enlarging vertically and persistent for several years; more frequently a tall shrub, spreading by underground shoots into broad thickets. Winter-buds conic, thickly coated with long silky pale brown hairs, about ¼′ long. Bark of the trunk thin, dark brown, generally smooth, and occasionally separating into small square scales. Wood light, brittle, soft, coarse-grained, orange-colored, streaked with green, with thick nearly white sapwood. From the young shoots pipes are made for drawing the sap of the Sugar Maple. The bark, especially that of the roots, and the leaves are rich in tannin. A form with narrow deeply divided leaflets (f. _dissecta_ Rehdr.) occasionally occurs.

Distribution. Usually on uplands in good soil, or less commonly on sterile gravelly banks and on the borders of streams and swamps, New Brunswick and through the valley of the St. Lawrence River to southern Ontario and westward to eastern North Dakota and eastern and northeastern Iowa, and southward through the northern states and along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia and Mississippi; more abundant on the Atlantic seaboard than in the region west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in the United States, and very commonly in central and northern Europe.

× _Rhus hybrida_ Rehdr. a hybrid of _R. typhina_ and _R. glabra_ L. has been found in Massachusetts.

2. Rhus copallina L. Sumach.

Leaves 6′—8′ long, with a slender pubescent petiole and rachis more or less broadly wing-margined between the leaflets, the wings increasing in width toward the apex of the leaf, and 9—21 oblong or ovate-lanceolate leaflets entire or remotely serrate above the middle, sharp-pointed or rarely emarginate at apex, acute or obtuse and often unequal at base, those of the lower pairs short-petiolulate and smaller than those above the middle of the leaf, the others sessile with the exception of the terminal leaflet sometimes contracted into a long winged stalk, when they unfold dark green and slightly puberulous above, especially along the midrib, and covered below with fine silvery white pubescence, at maturity subcoriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, pale and pubescent below, 1½′—2½′ long and about ¾′ wide, with slightly thickened revolute margins, a prominent midrib and primary veins; turning in the autumn before falling dark rich maroon color on the upper surface. Flowers appearing from June in the south to August in the north, those of the staminate plant opening in succession during nearly a month and continuing to unfold long after the petals of the pistillate plant have fallen, on stout pubescent pedicels ⅛′—¼′ long, in short compact pubescent panicles, the lower branches from the axils of the upper leaves, 4′—6′ long, 3′—4′ broad, and usually smaller on the female than on the male plant, their bracts and bractlets ovate or oblong, densely cinereo-pilose, deciduous before the expansion of the flowers; calyx puberulous on the outer surface, with ovate acute lobes one third as long as the ovate greenish yellow petals rounded at apex, becoming reflexed above the middle; disk red and conspicuous; stamens somewhat longer than the petals, with slender filaments and large orange-colored anthers, in the pistillate flower much shorter than the petals, with minute rudimentary anthers; ovary ovoid, pubescent, glabrous, much smaller in the staminate flower. Fruit ripening in five or six weeks and borne in stout compact often nodding pubescent clusters sometimes persistent on the branches until the beginning of the following summer, ⅛′ across, slightly obovoid, more or less flattened, with a thin bright red coat covered with short fine glandular hairs, and a smooth bony orange-brown stone; seed reniform, smooth, orange-colored, with a broad funicle.

A tree, 25°—30° high, with colorless watery juice, a short stout trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, erect spreading branches, and branchlets at first dark green tinged with red and more or less densely clothed with short fine or sometimes ferrugineous pubescence, appearing slightly zigzag at the end of their first season from the swellings formed by the prominent leaf-scars, and then pale reddish brown, slightly puberulous and marked by conspicuous dark-colored lenticels; or at the north usually a low shrub rarely more than 4°—5° tall. Winter-buds minute, nearly globose, and covered with dark rusty brown tomentum. Bark of the trunk ⅓′—½′ thick, light brown tinged with red, and marked by large elevated dark red-brown circular excrescences, and separating into large thin papery scales. Wood light, soft, coarse-grained, light brown streaked with green and often tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sapwood of 4 or 5 layers of annual growth. The leaves are rich in tannin and are gathered in large quantities and ground for curing leather and for dyeing.

Distribution. Dry hillsides and ridges; widely and generally distributed from northern New England to southern Florida, and to southeastern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, eastern Kansas and the valley of the San Antonio River, Texas; in Cuba; in the United States arborescent only southward; at the north rarely more than a few feet high and spreading by underground stems on gravelly sterile soil into broad thickets; varying considerably in the size and form of the leaflets. The most distinct and probably the most constant of these varieties is var. _lanceolata_ A. Gray, a small tree growing on the prairies of eastern Texas to the valley of the Rio Grande and to southeastern New Mexico, often forming thickets on river bluffs or on the banks of small streams, and distinguished by its narrow acute often falcate leaflets and by its larger inflorescence and fruit. A tree sometimes 25°—30° high, with a trunk occasionally 8′ in diameter, covered by dark gray bark marked by lenticular excrescences. The flowers appear in July and August and the dull red or sometimes green fruit ripens in early autumn and falls before the beginning of winter.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in the eastern United States, and in western and northern Europe.

3. Rhus vernix L. Poison Dogwood. Poison Sumach.

Leaves 7′—14′ long, with a slender usually light red or red and green petiole, and 7—13 obovate-oblong entire leaflets slightly unequal at base and narrowed at the acute or rounded apex, bright orange color and coated, especially on the margins and under surface, with fine pubescence when they unfold, soon becoming glabrous, and at maturity 3′—4′ long, 1½′—2′ wide, dark green and lustrous above, pale below, with a prominent midrib scarlet above, primary veins forked near the margins, conspicuous reticulate veinlets, and revolute margins; turning early in the autumn before falling to brilliant shades of scarlet or orange and scarlet. Flowers about ⅛′ long, appearing in early summer on slender pubescent pedicels bibracteolate near the middle, in long narrow axillary pubescent panicles crowded near the end of the branches, with acute pubescent early deciduous bracts and bractlets; calyx-lobes acute, one third the length of the yellow-green acute petals erect and slightly reflexed toward the apex; stamens nearly twice as long as the petals, with slender filaments and large orange-colored anthers, in the fertile flower not more than half the length of the petals, with small rudimentary anthers; ovary ovoid-globose, with short thick spreading styles terminating in large capitate stigmas. Fruit ripening in September and often persistent on the branches until the following spring, in long graceful racemes, ovoid, acute, often flattened and slightly gibbous, tipped with the dark remnants of the styles, glabrous, striate, ivory-white or white tinged with yellow, very lustrous, and about ½′ long; stone conspicuously grooved, the wall thin, membranaceous; seed pale yellow.

A tree, with acrid poisonous juice turning black on exposure, occasionally 25° high, with a trunk 5′—6′ in diameter, slender rather pendulous branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender glabrous branchlets reddish brown and covered with minute orange-colored lenticels when they first appear, orange-brown at the end of their first season, becoming light gray and marked by large elevated conspicuous leaf-scars; more often a shrub, with several slender clustered stems. Winter-buds acute and covered with dark purple scales puberulous on the back, and ciliate on the margins with short pale hairs, the terminal ⅛′—¾′ long and two or three times larger than the axillary buds. Bark of the trunk thin, light gray, smooth or sometimes slightly striate. Wood light, soft, coarse-grained, light yellow streaked with brown, with lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Wet swamps often inundated during a portion of the year; northern New England to northern Florida and southern Alabama, and westward to Ontario and southeastern Minnesota, western Louisiana and the valley of the Neches River (San Augustine County) eastern Texas; common and one of the most dangerous plants of the North American flora. An infusion of the young branches and leaves is employed in homœopathic practice, and the juice can be used as a black lustrous durable varnish.

4. Rhus integrifolia B. & H. Mahogany.

Leaves simple or very rarely 3-foliolate, persistent, acute or rounded at apex, with thickened revolute, or spinosely toothed margins (var. _serrata_ Engler), puberulous when young, and at maturity 1½′—3′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, thick and coriaceous, dark yellow-green above, paler below, and glabrous with the exception of the stout petiole, broad thick midrib, and prominent reticulate veins. Flowers appearing from February to April, ¼′ in diameter when expanded, on short stout pedicels, with 2—4 broad-ovate pointed persistent scarious ciliate pubescent bractlets, in short dense racemes forming hoary-pubescent terminal panicles 1′—3′ in length; sepals rose-colored, orbicular, concave, ciliate on the margins, rather less than half the length of the rounded ciliate reflexed rose-colored petals; stamens as long as the petals, with slender filaments and pale anthers, minute and rudimentary in the pistillate flower; ovary broad-ovoid, pubescent, with 3 short thick connate styles and very large 3-lobed capitate stigmas, rudimentary in the staminate flower. Fruit ½′ long, ovoid, flattened, more or less gibbous, thick, dark red, densely pubescent; stone kidney-shaped, smooth, light chestnut-brown, with thick walls; seed flattened, pale, with a broad dark-colored funicle covering its side.

A tree, rarely 30° high, with a short stout trunk 2°—3° in diameter, numerous spreading branches, and stout branchlets covered when they first appear with thick pale pubescence disappearing in their second and third years, and bright reddish brown and marked by numerous small elevated lenticels; or usually a small often almost prostrate shrub. Winter-buds small, obtuse, covered with a thick coat of pale tomentum. Bark of the trunk ¼′—½′ thick, bright reddish brown, exfoliating in large plate-like scales. Wood hard, heavy, bright clear red, with thin pale sapwood of 8—10 layers of annual growth; valued and largely used as fuel. The fruit is occasionally employed in the preparation of a cooling beverage.

Distribution. Sandy sterile soil along sea beaches, and bluffs in the immediate vicinity of the ocean; neighborhood of Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County, California, to the shores of Magdalena Bay, Lower California, and on the Santa Barbara and Cedros islands; on the mainland usually shrubby, forming close impenetrable thickets; in more sheltered situations and on the islands becoming arborescent; probably of its largest size on the shores of Todos Santos Bay, Lower California.

XXXII. CYRILLACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with small scaly buds and watery juice. Leaves alternate, entire, subcoriaceous, without stipules, persistent or tardily deciduous. Flowers small, regular, perfect, on slender bibracteolate pedicels, in terminal or axillary racemes; calyx 5—8-lobed, persistent, the lobes imbricated in the bud; petals 5—8, hypogynous; stamens 5—10, hypogynous, those opposite the petals shorter than the others; anthers oblong, introrse, 2-celled, the cells laterally dehiscent, opening longitudinally; ovary 2—4-celled; ovules suspended, anatropous; raphe dorsal; micropyle superior. Fruit an indehiscent capsule. Seed suspended; seed-coat membranaceous; albumen fleshy, radicle superior.

A family confined to the warmer parts of America, with three genera, of which two are represented by small trees in the southern states.

CONSPECTUS OF THE GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Flowers in axillary racemes; calyx 5-lobed; petals 5 contorted in the
bud; fruit without wings, 2-celled, with 2 seeds in each cell.
1. Cyrilla.
Flowers in terminal racemes; calyx 5—8-lobed; petals 5—8 imbricated in
the bud; fruit with 2—4 wings, 3 or rarely 4-celled, with 1 seed
in each cell.
2. Cliftonia.

1. CYRILLA L.

A glabrous tree or shrub, with spongy bark, slender terete branchlets conspicuously marked by large leaf-scars, and narrow acute winter-buds covered with chestnut-brown scales. Leaves usually clustered near the end of the branches, oblong or oblong-obovate, pointed, rounded, or slightly emarginate at apex, conspicuously reticulate-veined, short-petiolate. Flowers on pedicels from the axils of narrow alternate persistent bracts, in slender racemes from the axils of fallen leaves or of small deciduous bracts near the end of the branches of the previous year; calyx minute, divided nearly to the base into 5 ovate-lanceolate acute coriaceous lobes; petals 5, contorted in the bud, white or rose color, inserted on an annular disk, three or four times longer than the calyx-lobes, oblong-lanceolate, acute, concave, subcoriaceous, furnished below the middle on the inner surface with a broad glandular nectary; stamens 5, opposite the divisions of the calyx, inserted with and shorter than the petals; filaments subulate, fleshy; anther-cells united above the point of attachment, free below; ovary ovoid, free, sessile, pointed, 2-celled; styles short, thick; stigma 2-lobed, with spreading lobes; ovules 3 in each cell, suspended from an elongated placental process developed from the apex of the cell. Fruit 2-celled, broad-ovoid, crowned with the remnants of the persistent style; pericarp spongy. Seeds 2 in each cell, elongated, acuminate; embryo minute, cylindric, 2-lobed.

Cyrilla is represented by a single species of the coast region of the south Atlantic and Gulf states and of the Antilles and eastern tropical South America.

The name commemorates the scientific labors of Dominico Cirillo (1734—1799), the distinguished Italian naturalist and patriot.

1. Cyrilla racemiflora L. Ironwood. Leather Wood.

Leaves 2′—3′ long and ¼′—1′ wide, with a stout petiole ⅛′—1′ in length; turning late in the autumn and early winter to brilliant shades of orange and scarlet and then deciduous, or southward persistent with little change of color until the beginning of the following summer. Flowers appearing late in June or early in July, in racemes usually 6—10 together and 4′—6′ long, at first erect, becoming pendulous before the fruit ripens. Fruit ripening in August and September, rarely more than 1/16′ long; seeds light brown.

A slender tree, occasionally 30°—35° high, with a stout often eccentric trunk 10′—14′ in diameter, dividing several feet above the ground into numerous wide-spreading branches, and slender branchlets bright brown during their first season and ultimately ashy gray; often a broad bush sending up many slender stems 15°—20° high. Winter-buds about ⅛′ long. Bark of the trunk rarely more than ½′ thick except near the base of old trees, and covered by large thin bright red-brown scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, not strong, brown tinged with red, with rather lighter colored sapwood. The spongy bark at the base of the trunk is pliable, absorbent, and astringent, and has been recommended as a styptic.

Distribution. Rich shaded river-bottoms, the borders of sandy swamps and shallow ponds of the coast Pine-belt, or on high sandy exposed ridges rising above streams near the Gulf coast; southeastern Virginia southward near the coast to northern Florida and westward along the Gulf coast to the valley of the Neches River, Texas; in Lake County, Florida, and ranging northward in Mississippi to Forrest County (near Hattiesburg, _T. G. Harbison_), and in Alabama to Dallas County; in swamps near the coast of western Florida often a low shrub with smaller leaves and shorter racemes (var. _parviflora_ Sarg.); in Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico, Demarara, and Brazil (var. _racemifera_ Sarg.).

2. CLIFTONIA Gærtn. f.

A glabrous tree or shrub, with thick dark brown scaly bark, slender terete branchlets marked by conspicuous leaf-scars, and small acuminate buds covered by chestnut-brown scales. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, rounded or slightly emarginate at apex, glandular-punctate, short-petiolate, persistent. Flowers on pedicels from the axils of large acuminate membranaceous alternate bracts deciduous before the opening of the flowers, in short terminal erect racemes; calyx 5—8-lobed, equal or unequal, broad-ovoid, rounded or acuminate at apex, much shorter than the 5—8 obovate unguiculate concave white or rose-colored sepals; stamens 10, opposite and alternate with the sepals, inserted with and shorter than the petals, 2-ranked, those of the outer rank longer than the others; filaments laterally enlarged near the middle, flattened below, subulate above; disk cup-shaped, surrounding the base of the oblong 2—4-winged 2—4-celled ovary; stigma subsessile, obscurely 2—4-lobed; ovules 2 in each cell, suspended from its apex. Fruit oblong, 2—4-winged, crowned with the remnants of the persistent style, 3 or rarely 4-celled; pericarp spongy, the wings thin and membranaceous. Seed 1 in each cell, terete, tapering to the ends, suspended; cotyledons very short.

Cliftonia is represented by a single species of the south Atlantic and Gulf states.

The generic name is in honor of Dr. Francis Clifton (d. 1736), an English physician.

1. Cliftonia monophylla Britt. Titi. Ironwood.

Leaves 1½′—2′ long, ½′—1′ wide, bright green and lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface; persistent until the autumn of their second year. Flowers fragrant, appearing in February and March, in racemes at first nodding, and conspicuous from the long exserted dark red-brown caducous bracts, becoming erect as the flowers open. Fruit about ¼′ long, ripening in August and September; seeds 1/16′—⅛′ long, light brown.

A tree, occasionally 40°—50° high, with a stout often crooked or inclining trunk, occasionally 15′—18′ in diameter, and usually divided 12°—15° from the ground into a number of stout ascending branches, and slender rigid bright red-brown branchlets, becoming paler during their second and third seasons; or sometimes a shrub, with numerous straggling stout or slender stems frequently only a few feet high or occasionally 30°—40° high. Winter-buds about ¼′ long. Bark of young stems and of large branches thin, the surface separating into small persistent scales 1′—2′ long, becoming near the base of old trees deeply furrowed, dark red-brown, ¼′ thick, and broken on the surface into short broad scales. Wood heavy, close-grained, moderately hard, brittle, not strong, brown tinged with red, with thick lighter colored sapwood of 40—50 layers of annual growth; burning with a clear bright flame, and valued as fuel.

Distribution. Damp sandy peat soil in swamps almost submerged for several months of the year, or often in shallow rarely overflowed swamps; coast region of the south Atlantic states from the valley of the Savannah River to the coast of western Florida, and through the maritime Pine-belt of the Gulf coast to eastern Louisiana.

XXXIII. AQUIFOLIACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with terete branchlets, scaly buds, and alternate simple entire crenate or pungently toothed petiolate persistent or deciduous leaves, with minute stipules. Flowers axillary, solitary or cymose, small, greenish white, diœcious; calyx 4—6-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud, hypogynous; petals 4—6, oval or oblong, obtuse, free or united at base, imbricated in the bud; disk 0; stamens as many as and alternate with the petals and adnate to the base of the corolla; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally, small and sterile in the pistillate flower; pistil compound; ovary 4—8-celled, minute and rudimentary in the staminate flower; style short or 0; stigmas as many as the cells of the ovary, nearly confluent; ovule generally solitary in each cell, suspended, anatropous; raphe usually dorsal, the micropyle superior. Fruit a drupe, with as many indehiscent bony or crustaceous 1-seeded nutlets as carpels; sarcocarp thin and fleshy. Seed narrowed at the ends, suspended; seed-coat membranaceous, pale brown; embryo minute in the apex of the copious fleshy albumen; cotyledons plain; the radicle superior.

The Holly family with five genera is distributed in temperate and tropical regions of the two hemispheres. Of the five genera now recognized, only Ilex is important in the number of species or is widely distributed.

1. ILEX L.

Characters of the family.

Ilex with about one hundred and seventy-five species is found in all tropical and temperate regions of the world with the exception of western North America, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and New Guinea, the largest number of species occurring in Brazil and Guiana. Of the thirteen species which inhabit eastern North America, six are trees. Ilex contains a bitter principle, ilicin, and possesses tonic properties. _Ilex paraguariensis_ St. Hilaire, of South America, furnishes the maté or Paraguay tea, and is the most useful of the species. The European _Ilex Aquifolium_ L. is a favorite garden plant, and is sometimes planted in the middle, southern, and Pacific United States.

_Ilex_ is the classical name of the Evergreen Oak of southern Europe.

CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES.

Parts of the flower in 4’s; pedicels with bractlets at the base;
nutlets prominently ribbed on the back and sides; leaves
persistent.
Leaves armed with spiny teeth; young branchlets glabrous or
sparingly pubescent.
1. I. opaca (A, C).
Leaves serrate or entire; fruit bright red.
Leaves oblanceolate or oblong-obovate, mostly entire; young
branchlets pubescent; calyx-lobes acuminate.
2. I. Cassine (C).
Leaves elliptic or oblong-elliptic, coarsely crenulate-serrate;
young branchlets puberulous; calyx-lobes obtuse.
3. I. vomitoria (C).
Leaves entire, ovate, ovate-elliptic or ovate-lanceolate; fruit
brownish purple.
4. I. Krugiana (D).
Parts of the flower in 4’s or 5’s, rarely in 6’s; pedicels without
bractlets; nutlets striate, many-ribbed on the back; leaves
deciduous.
Leaves oblong-spatulate or obovate-lanceolate, remotely
crenulate-serrate; calyx-lobes broad-triangular.
5. I. decidua (A, C).
Leaves ovate or oblong-lanceolate, sharply serrate; calyx-lobes
acute.
6. I. monticola (A).

1. Ilex opaca Ait. Holly.

Leaves elliptic to obovate-oblong, pungently acute, with thickened undulate margins and few stout spinose teeth, or occasionally entire, especially on upper branches, thick, coriaceous, dull yellow-green, paler and often yellow on the lower surface, 2′—4′ long, with a prominent midrib and conspicuous veins; persistent on the branches for three years, finally deciduous in the spring; petioles short, stout, thickened at base, grooved above, slightly puberulent; stipules minute, broad-acute or nearly deltoid, persistent. Flowers appearing in spring on slender puberulous pedicels, with minute acute bractlets, in short pedunculate cymes from the axils of young leaves or scattered along the base of the young shoots, 3—9-flowered on the staminate and 1 or rarely 2 or 3-flowered on the pistillate plant; calyx-lobes acute, ciliate on the margins; stigmas broad and sessile. Fruit ripening late in the autumn, persistent on the branches during the winter, spherical or ovoid, dull red or rarely yellow, ¼′ in diameter; nutlets prominently few-ribbed on the back and sides, rather narrower at apex than at base.

A tree, often 40°—50° and occasionally 80°—100° high, with a trunk 2°, 3°, or exceptionally 4° in diameter, short slender branches forming a narrow pyramidal head, and stout branchlets covered when they first appear with fine rufous pubescence disappearing during their first season, and becoming glabrous and pale brown. Winter-buds obtuse or acuminate, ⅛′—¼′ long, with narrow acuminate ciliate scales. Bark about ½′ thick, light gray and roughened by wart-like excrescences. Wood light, tough, not strong, close-grained, nearly white when first cut, turning brown with age and exposure, with thick rather lighter colored sapwood; valued and much used in cabinet-making, in the interior finish of houses, and in turnery. The branches are used in large quantities for Christmas decoration.

Distribution. Coast of Massachusetts, in the city of Quincy, Norfolk County, southward generally near the coast to the shores of Mosquito Inlet and Charlotte Harbor, Florida; valley of the Mississippi River from southern Indiana and Illinois, to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and through Missouri, Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, and Louisiana to the valley of Cibolo Creek (Southerland Springs, Wilson County), Texas; rare and of small size east of the Hudson River and rare in the Appalachian Mountain region and the country immediately west of it; most abundant and of its largest size on the bottom-lands of the streams of northern Louisiana, southern Arkansas and eastern Texas; at the north in dry rather gravelly soil often on the margins of Oak-woods, southward on the borders of swampy river-bottoms, in rich humid soil.

Occasionally cultivated in the eastern states as an ornamental plant.

2. Ilex Cassine L. Dahoon.

Leaves oblanceolate to oblong-obovate, acute, mucronate or rarely rounded and occasionally emarginate at apex, gradually narrowed and cuneate at base, revolute and entire, or sometimes serrate above the middle with sharp mucronate teeth, puberulous above and densely pubescent below when they first unfold, becoming glabrous at maturity with the exception of scattered hairs on the lower surface of the broad midrib, dark green and lustrous above, pale below, 1½′—3′ long and ½′—1′ wide; petioles short, stout, thickened at the base, sparingly villose. Flowers on hairy pedicels, with acute scarious bractlets, in pedunculate clusters, 3—9-flowered on the staminate plant, usually 3-flowered on the pistillate plant sometimes nearly 1′ long, from the axils of leaves of the year or occasionally of the previous year; calyx-lobes acute, ciliate. Fruit ripening late in the autumn, persistent until the following spring, globose, sometimes ¼′ in diameter, bright or occasionally dull red or nearly yellow, solitary or often in clusters of 3’s; nutlets prominently few-ribbed on the back and sides; rounded at base, acute at apex.

A tree, 25°—30° high, with a trunk 12′—18′ in diameter, and branches coated at first with dense silky pubescence persistent until the end of the second or third year, ultimately dark brown and marked by occasional lenticels; or often a low shrub. Winter-buds minute, acute, with lanceolate scales thickly coated with pale silky pubescence. Bark of the trunk about 1/16′ thick, dark gray, thickly covered and roughened by lenticels. Wood light, soft, close-grained, not strong, pale brown, with thick nearly white sapwood.

Distribution. Cold swamps and on their borders, in rich moist soil, or occasionally on the high sandy banks of Pine-barren streams; southeastern Virginia southward in the immediate neighborhood of the coast to the shores of Bay Biscayne and the Everglade Keys, Dade County, and in the interior of the peninsular in Polk and De Soto Counties, Florida, and along the Gulf coast to western Louisiana; on the Bahama Islands and in Cuba (var. _latifolia_ Ait.); nowhere abundant on the Atlantic coast; most common in western Florida and southern Alabama; passing through forms with elongated narrow leaves (var. _angustifolia_ Ait., the common form of southern Alabama) into the variety _myrtifolia_ Sarg. This is a low shrub or occasionally a slender wide-branched tree, with pale nearly white bark, puberulous branchlets, and crowded generally entire mucronate leaves ½′—1′ long, ⅛′ wide, with strongly reflexed margins, a very short petiole, and a broad prominent midrib; an inhabitant of Cypress-swamps and Pine-barren ponds or their margins, in the neighborhood of the coast, North Carolina to Louisiana.

_Ilex Cassine_ is occasionally cultivated in Europe.

3. Ilex vomitoria Ait. Cassena. Yaupon.

Leaves elliptic to elliptic-oblong, obtuse, coarsely and remotely crenulate-serrate, coriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, pale and opaque below, 1′—2′ long and ¼′—1′ wide, persistent for two or three years, generally falling just before the appearance of the new growth of their third season; petioles short, broad, and grooved. Flowers on slender club-shaped glabrous pedicels, with minute bractlets at the base, in short glabrous cymes on branchlets of the previous year, those of the staminate plant short-stemmed and many-flowered, those of the pistillate plant sessile and 1 or 2-flowered; calyx-lobes rounded, obtuse, often slightly ciliate; ovary contracted below the broad flat stigma. Fruit produced in great abundance, on stems not more than ¼′ long, ripening late in the autumn or in early winter, soon deciduous, or persistent until spring, scarlet, nearly globose, about ¼′ in diameter; nutlets obtuse at the ends, and prominently few-ribbed on the back and sides.

A small much-branched tree, 20°—25° high, with a slender often inclining trunk rarely more than 6′ in diameter, and stout branchlets standing at right angles with the stem, slightly angled and puberulous during their first season, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous, terete and pale gray in their second year; generally a tall shrub, with numerous stems forming dense thickets. Winter-buds minute, obtuse, with narrow dark brown or often nearly black scales. Bark of the trunk 1/16′—⅛′ thick, the light red-brown surface broken into thin minute scales. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, nearly white, turning yellow with exposure, with thick lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Southeastern Virginia to the St. John’s River and Cedar Keys, Florida, and westward to the shores of Matagorda Bay and the valleys of the upper Rio Blanco and the Guadalupe River, Texas, and to southern Arkansas; in the Atlantic and east Gulf states rarely far from salt water and usually not more than 10°—15° high; of its largest size and of tree-like habit only on the rich bottom-lands of eastern Texas. The branches covered with the fruit are sold during the winter months for decorative purposes. An infusion of the leaves, which are emetic and purgative, was used by the Indians, who formerly visited the coast in large numbers every spring to drink it.

Occasionally used in the southern states for hedges.

4. Ilex Krugiana Loesen.

Leaves ovate, ovate-elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate and abruptly long-pointed or acute at apex, rounded or obtusely cuneate at base, entire, with slightly thickened margins subcoriaceous or coriaceous, glabrous, dark yellow-green and lustrous above, dull beneath, persistent, 2½′—4′ long and 1′—1½′ wide, with a prominent midrib deeply impressed on the upper side and pale on the lower side, and 6—9 pairs of slender primary veins connected by thin reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, ⅓′—¾′ in length; stipules minute, whitish, persistent. Flowers on slender pedicels, 1/12′—⅙′ long, in the axils of minute acute scarious deciduous bractlets, in crowded clusters, the staminate 1—3-flowered on short peduncles, the pistillate 1-flowered; calyx about 1/12′ in diameter, 4-lobed, the lobes triangular, suberect, about as long as the tube, imbricated in the bud; corolla rotate, greenish white, petals 4, ovate or slightly obovate in the pistillate flower, imbricated in the bud; stamens 4 in the staminate flower, nearly as long as the petals; filaments slender, about as long as the oval anthers; in the pistillate flower much smaller and abortive; ovary 4-celled, ellipsoid; stigma small, discoid, obscurely 4-lobed; ovary of the staminate flower subconic, minute and abortive. Fruit on a stout pedicel up to ⅕′ in length, globose, brownish purple, lustrous, ⅙′ in diameter; sarcocarp thin; nutlets 4, irregularly 3-seeded, obtusely angled, dark brown.

In Florida a tree, sometimes 30°—40° high, with a tall often crooked trunk occasionally 4′ in diameter and covered with thin smooth nearly white bark, becoming on old individuals darker-colored and broken into narrow scales, and small ascending branchlets green when they first appear, becoming light gray and finally white, and marked by numerous round elliptic lenticels; often a shrub.

Distribution. Florida, Homestead and Paradise Keys in the Everglades, Dade County; in the Bahama Islands, Hayti and San Domingo.

5. Ilex decidua Walt.

Leaves deciduous, except on vigorous shoots, fascicled at the end of short spur-like lateral branchlets, oblong-spatulate or spatulate-lanceolate, acuminate, obtuse or emarginate at apex, gradually narrowed below, remotely crenulate-serrate, 2′—3′ long, ⅓′—1′ wide, thin early in the season, becoming thick and firm at maturity, light green above and pale and sparingly hairy along the narrow midrib below; petioles slender, grooved, pubescent, about ¼′ in length; stipules filiform, membranaceous. Flowers on slender pedicels, those of the staminate plant often ½′ long and longer than those of the pistillate plant, in 1 or 2-flowered glabrous cymes crowded at the end of the lateral branches of the previous season, or rarely solitary on branchlets of the year; calyx-lobes triangular, with smooth or sometimes ciliate margins. Fruit on short stout stems, ripening in the early autumn, often remaining on the branches until the appearance of the leaves the following spring, globose or depressed-globose, orange or orange-scarlet, ¼′ in diameter; nutlets narrowed and rounded at base, acute or acuminate at apex, many-ribbed on the back.

A tree, 20°—30° high, with a slender trunk 6′—10′ in diameter, stout spreading branches, and slender glabrous pale silver gray branchlets; more often a tall straggling shrub. Winter-buds minute, obtuse, with ovate light gray scales. Bark of the trunk rarely more than 1/16′ thick, light brown, and roughened by wart-like excrescences. Wood heavy, hard, close-grained, creamy white, with rather lighter colored sapwood.

Distribution. Borders of streams and swamps in low moist soil; Gloucester County, Virginia, to western Florida in the region between the eastern and southern base of the Appalachian Mountains and the neighborhood of the coast, and through the Gulf states to the valley of the Colorado River, Texas, and through Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, and southern Missouri to southern Illinois; usually shrubby east of the Mississippi River and only arborescent in Missouri, southern Arkansas, and eastern Texas. In Florida a form (var. _Curtissii_ Fern.) occurs with leaves only ⅓′—⅔′ long and fruit about ¼′ in diameter.

6. Ilex monticola Gray.

Leaves deciduous, ovate to oblong-lanceolate, abruptly narrowed and acuminate or rarely acute at apex, cuneate or rarely rounded at base, sharply and rather remotely serrate with minute glandular incurved teeth, thin, glabrous, or sparingly hairy along the prominent midrib and veins, 2′—5′ long, ½′—2½′ wide, light green above and pale below; petioles slender, ⅓′—½′ in length. Flowers appearing in June when the leaves are more than half grown, on slender pedicels ½′ long on the staminate plant and much longer on the pistillate plant, in 1—2-flowered cymes crowded at the end of lateral spur-like branchlets of the previous year, or solitary on branchlets of the year; calyx-lobes acute, ciliate; ovary contracted below the broad flat stigma. Fruit globose, bright scarlet, nearly ½′ in diameter; nutlets narrowed at the ends, prominently ribbed on the back and sides.

A tree, 30°—40° high, with a short trunk sometimes 10′—12′ in diameter, slender branches forming a narrow pyramidal head, and more or less zigzag glabrous branchlets pale red-brown at first, becoming dark gray at the end of their first season; more often a low shrub, with spreading stems. Winter-buds broad-ovoid to subglobose, about ⅛′ long, with ovate keeled apiculate light brown scales. Bark of the trunk usually less than 1/16′ thick, with a light brown surface roughened by numerous lenticels. Wood hard, heavy, close-grained, and creamy white.

Distribution. Central and western New York, southward along the Appalachian Mountains to eastern Tennessee; northern and central Georgia; coast of South Carolina near Charleston; western Florida (Mariana, Jackson County, and Wakulla Springs, Wakulla County); Dallas County, Alabama; northeastern Mississippi (Tishomingo County), and in West Feliciana and Wynn Parishes, Louisiana; a shrubby form with leaves soft pubescent beneath (var. _mollis_ Britt.) occurs in western Massachusetts and Connecticut, and southward to North Carolina.

XXXIV. CELASTRACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, with watery juice, and opposite or alternate simple persistent or deciduous leaves, with or without stipules. Flowers regular, perfect, polygamous or diœcious, pedicellate in axillary clusters; calyx 4—5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud; petals 4 or 5, imbricated in the bud; stamens 4 or 5; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary 2—5-celled; ovules 2 or solitary in each cell (_6 in Canotia_), anatropous, or subhorizontal (_in Canotia_). Fruit a capsule or drupe. Seed with copious albumen; embryo axile.

A family of about thirty-eight genera widely distributed over the tropical and warm temperate parts of the world, with five arborescent representatives in the United States.

CONSPECTUS OF THE ARBORESCENT GENERA OF THE UNITED STATES.

Leaves opposite, deciduous; parts of the flower in 4’s; fruit a fleshy
capsule enclosed in a colored aril.
1. Evonymus.
Leaves alternate, persistent (_0 in 3_).
Fruit capsular; parts of the flower in 5’s.
Capsule 3—4-valved, loculicidal, its outer coat woody, the valves
apiculate at apex; base of the seed enclosed in a colored
aril.
2. Maytenus.
Capsule 5-valved, septicidal, its outer coat thin and fleshy, the
valves 2-lobed at apex; seed without an aril.
3. Canotia.
Fruit drupaceous; parts of the flower in 4’s; seed without an aril.
Leaves often crenately serrate above the middle; stipules minute,
caducous; fruit usually 1-seeded; branchlets quadrangular.
4. Gyminda.
Leaves entire; stipules 0; fruit 2-seeded; branchlets terete.
5. Schæfferia.

1. EVONYMUS L.

Small generally glabrous trees or shrubs, with usually square sometimes wing-margined branchlets, bitter drastic bark, slender obtuse or acuminate winter-buds, and fibrous roots. Leaves opposite, petiolate, entire, crenate or dentate, deciduous or rarely persistent; stipules minute, caducous. Flowers perfect or polygamo-diœcious, in dichotomous axillary usually few-flowered cymes; calyx 4-lobed (in the North American arborescent species); disk thick and fleshy, cohering with and filling the short tube of the calyx, flat, 4-angled or lobed, closely surrounding and adhering to the ovary; petals inserted in the sinuses of the calyx under the free border of the disk, as many as and much longer than the calyx-lobes, spreading, deciduous; stamens as many as the petals and alternate with them, inserted on the summit of the disk; filaments very short, subulate, erect or recurved; anthers 2-celled, the cells nearly parallel or spreading below; ovary 4-celled; styles short, terminating in a depressed stigma; ovules usually 2 in each cell, ascending from the central angle; raphe ventral, micropyle inferior, or pendulous, the raphe then dorsal and the micropyle superior. Fruit capsular, 4-lobed and celled, fleshy, angled or winged, smooth (in the North American arborescent species), loculicidally 4-valved, the valves septicidal. Seeds 2 in each cell, or commonly solitary by abortion, ascending, surrounded by a colored aril; seed-coat chartaceous; albumen fleshy; embryo axile; cotyledons broad, coriaceous, parallel with the raphe; the radicle short, inferior.

Evonymus is widely distributed through the northern hemisphere, extending south of the equator to the islands of the Indian Archipelago and to Australia. About forty species are distinguished, the largest number occurring in the tropical regions of southern Asia, and in China and Japan. Of the four species found within the territory of the United States one only is a small tree. Many of the species are rich in bitter and astringent principles, and are drastic and slightly stimulant. Many are valued as ornaments of gardens and parks.

The generic name is from the classical name of one of the European species.

1. Evonymus atropurpureus Jacq. Bunting Bush. Wahoo.

Leaves ovate-elliptic, acuminate, minutely serrate or biserrate, thin, puberulous below, 2′—5′ long and 1′—2′ wide, with a stout midrib and primary veins; turning pale yellow in the autumn and falling in October; petioles stout, ½′—1′ in length. Flowers appearing from May to the middle of June, nearly ½′ across, in twice or thrice dichotomous usually 7—15-flowered cymes borne on slender peduncles 1′—2′ long and conspicuously marked by the scars of minute bracts; calyx-lobes 4, rounded or rarely acute at apex, mostly entire; petals broad-obovate, undulate, often erose on the margins; anthers spreading. Fruit ripening in October, usually persistent on the branches until midwinter, deeply lobed, ½′ across, with light purple valves; seeds sometimes gibbous on the dorsal side, broad and rounded above, narrowed below, ¼′ long, with a thin light chestnut-brown wrinkled coat and a thin scarlet aril.

A tree, rarely 20°—25° high, with a trunk 4′—6′ in diameter, spreading branches, and slender terete branchlets dark purple-brown at first, becoming lighter colored in their second season, often covered with small crowded lenticels, and marked by prominent leaf-scars, occasionally slightly or on vigorous shoots rarely broadly wing-margined; more often a shrub, 6°—10° tall. Winter-buds ⅛′ long, acute, with narrow purple apiculate scales scarious on the margins and covered by a glaucous bloom. Bark thin, ashy gray, and covered by thin minute scales. Wood heavy, hard, very close-grained, white tinged with orange.

Distribution. Borders of woods in rich soil; western New York to southern Minnesota, central Iowa, southeastern South Dakota, northwestern Nebraska, central Kansas, Oklahoma to the valley of the Canadian River (near Minton, Caddo County), southern Arkansas and eastern Texas (Dallas County), and southward to eastern Tennessee, Jackson County, Alabama, and western Florida; in the valley of the upper Missouri River, Montana; arborescent only in southern Arkansas and Texas.

Occasionally cultivated as an ornament of gardens in the eastern United States and in Europe.

2. MAYTENUS Molina.