Part 16

This low shrub is common in swamps and moist thickets all along the Atlantic coast, as well as farther inland. Its flowers appear in May or June; its fruit in late summer or autumn.

PLATE X

SOLOMON’S SEAL.—P. biflorum. ]

CREEPING SNOWBERRY. Chiogenes serpyllifolia. Heath Family.

Stem.—Slender, trailing and creeping. Leaves.—Evergreen, small, ovate, pointed. Flowers.—Small, white, solitary from the axils of the leaves. Calyx.—Four-parted, with four large bracelets beneath. Corolla.—Deeply four-parted. Stamens.—Eight. Pistil.—One. Fruit.—A pure white berry.

This pretty little creeper is found blossoming in May in the peat-bogs and mossy woods of the North. It is only conspicuous when hung with its snow-white berries in late summer. It has the aromatic flavor of the wintergreen.

BEARBERRY. Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi. Heath Family.

A trailing shrub. Leaves.—Thick and evergreen, smooth, somewhat wedge-shaped. Flowers.—Whitish, clustered. Calyx.—Small. Corolla.—Urn-shaped, five-toothed. Stamens.—Ten. Pistil.—One. Fruit.—Red, berry-like.

This plant blossoms in May, and is found on rocky hill-sides. Its name refers to the relish with which bears are supposed to devour its fruit.

FALSE SOLOMON’S SEAL. Smilacina racemosa. Lily Family.

Stem.—Usually curving, one to three feet long. Leaves.—Oblong, veiny. Flowers.—Greenish-white, small, in a terminal raceme. Perianth.—Six-parted. Stamens.—Six. Pistil.—One. Fruit.—A pale red berry speckled with purple.

A singular lack of imagination is betrayed in the common name of this plant. Despite a general resemblance to the true Solomon’s seal, and the close proximity in which the two are constantly found, S. racemosa, has enough originality to deserve an individual title. The position of the much smaller flowers is markedly different. Instead of drooping beneath the stem they terminate it, having frequently a pleasant fragrance, while the berries of late summer are pale red, flecked with purple. It puzzles one to understand why these two plants should so constantly be found growing side by side—so close at times that they almost appear to spring from one point. The generic name is from smilax, on account of a supposed resemblance between the leaves of this plant and those which belong to that genus.

PLATE XI

FALSE SOLOMON’S SEAL.—S. racemosa. ]

MAPLE-LEAVED VIBURNUM. DOCKMACKIE. ARROW-WOOD. Viburnum acerifolium. Honeysuckle Family.

A shrub from three to six feet high. Leaves.—Somewhat three-lobed, resembling those of the maple, downy underneath. Flowers.—White, small, in flat-topped clusters. Calyx.—Five-toothed. Corolla.—Spreading, five-lobed. Stamens.—Five. Pistil.—One. Fruit.—Berry-like, crimson, turning purple.

Perhaps our flowering shrubs contribute even more to the beauty of the early summer woods and fields than the smaller plants. Along many of the lanes which intersect the woodlands the viburnums are conspicuous in June. When the blossoms of the dockmackie have passed away we need not be surprised if we are informed that this shrub is a young maple. There is certainly a resemblance between its leaves and those of the maple, as the specific name indicates. To be sure, the first red, then purple berries, can scarcely be accounted for, but such a trifling incongruity would fail to daunt the would-be wiseacre of field and forest. With Napoleonic audacity he will give you the name of almost any shrub or flower about which you may inquire. Seizing upon some feature he has observed in another plant, he will immediately christen the one in question with the same title—somewhat modified, perhaps—and in all probability his authority will remain unquestioned. There is a marvellous amount of inaccuracy afloat in regard to the names of even the commonest plants, owing to this wide-spread habit of guessing at the truth and stating a conjecture as a fact.

HOBBLE-BUSH. AMERICAN WAYFARING-TREE. Viburnum lantanoides. Honeysuckle Family.

Leaves.—Rounded, pointed, closely toothed, heart-shaped at the base, the veins beneath as well as the stalks and small branches being covered with a rusty scurf. Fruit.—Coral-red, berry-like.

The marginal flowers of the flat-topped clusters of the hobble-bush, like those of the hydrangea, are much larger than the inner ones, and are without either stamens or pistils; their only part in the economy of the shrub being to form an attractive setting for the cluster, and thus to allure the insect-visitors that are usually so necessary to the future well-being of the species. The shrub is a common one in our northern woods and mountains. Its straggling growth, and its reclining branches, which often take root in the ground, have suggested the popular names of hobble-bush, and wayfaring-tree.

ROUND-LEAVED DOGWOOD. Cornus circinata. Dogwood Family.

A shrub six to ten feet high. Leaves.—Rounded, abruptly pointed. Flowers.—Small, white, in flat, spreading clusters. Calyx.—Minutely four-toothed. Corolla.—Of four white, oblong, spreading petals. Stamens.—Four. Pistil.—One. Fruit.—Light blue, berry-like.

The different members of the Dogwood family are important factors in the lovely pageant which delights our eyes along the country lanes every spring. Oddly enough, only the smallest and largest representative of the tribe (the little bunch-berry, and the flowering-dogwood, which is sometimes a tree of goodly dimensions), have in common the showy involucre which is usually taken for the blossom itself; but which instead only surrounds the close cluster of inconspicuous greenish flowers.

The other members of the genus are all comprised in the shrubby dogwoods; many of these are very similar in appearance, bearing their white flowers in flat, spreading clusters, and differing chiefly in their leaves and fruit.

The branches of the round-leaved dogwood are greenish and warty-dotted. Its fruit is light blue, and berry-like.

The panicled dogwood, C. paniculata, may be distinguished by its white fruit and smooth, gray branches.

The red-osier dogwood, C. stolonifera, is common in wet places. Its young shoots and branches are a bright purplish-red. Its flower-clusters are small; its fruit, white or lead-color.

The bark of this genus has been considered a powerful tonic, and an extract entitled “cornine,” is said to possess the properties of quinine less strongly marked. The Chinese peel its twigs, and use them for whitening their teeth. It is said that the Creoles also owe the dazzling beauty of their teeth to this same practice.