Part 31

Found in light woods, and rocky uplands, in blossom during June and July.

A shrub, with round, woody-fibred, smooth stems; the old growth is of a light gray color, while the new shoots are green, and dull red.

The oval leaf, wide at the bottom, is very tapering at the tip; the closely and finely toothed edges are more or less ruffled; the surface is smooth, and the texture like silk; the color is a strong, warm green, often showing traces of red on the margin, and in the midrib. The leaves are in pairs, on short, stout, and partly clasping foot-stems.

The corolla of the small flower has a tube about ½ of an inch long, spreading at the top, and parted into 5 irregular recurving divisions, of a pale yellow color, marked with dull tawny-orange; the five long stamens are yellow, and the flat, disc-like tip of the pistil is green; the slender, pale green calyx is vase-shape, with 5 thread-like divisions. A few flowers grow from the end of the branches, and from the angles of the upper leaves.

This Honeysuckle has a vigorous leafage, and is full of strong curves, but it lacks the spicy fragrance associated with its name. On some plants the leaves are all opposite at the same angle, while on others the alternate pairs are set on at right angles to each other.

*Elder-flower.* Sambucus Canadensis.

Found along meadow hedgerows, blossoming in June and July.

A bush, from 5 to 10 feet high; it is woody, and branching, with a white pith, and gray bark.

The large compound leaf has from 8 to 10 pairs of leaflets, with an odd one at the end; the taper-pointed leaflet has a notched margin, a smooth surface, and a rather thin texture; the color is a full green, lighter beneath.

The small 5-parted flower has 5 stamens and 1 pistil, and a minute calyx; it is cream-white, and grows in wide, spreading, flat-topped clusters, on the ends of the branches.

The round, reddish-black berries ripen in August and September; they were used by our foremothers to make a spicy wine. In the wild hedgerow the big creamy clusters are most effective, but when picked the little flower-wheels soon scatter.

*Snowberry.* Symphoricarpos racemosus.

Found in blossom from June to September.

A shrub about 3 or 4 feet high, with a woody, branching stem, covered with a smooth bark; that of the old growth gray-brown in color, of the new growth, golden-brown.

The broadly oval leaf has an entire, somewhat wavy, margin, a smooth surface, and dry texture. It is in color a dark grayish-green, lighter beneath. The leaves grow in pairs, on short stems.

The small bell-shaped flower is 5-tipped, and filled within with white woolly hairs; it is rose-colored, running into white. The corolla sits on top of the little, round, green calyx, which develops into a large, juicy, waxen white berry. The flowers and berries grow in a close terminal spike, gradually weighed down by the enlarging berries.

Both berries and blossoms occur on the same spike. The Snowberry was largely cultivated by our foremothers in their house yards, and is still common about old houses.

MADDER FAMILY.

RUBIACEÆ.

*Innocence.* Houstonia cærulea. *Quaker Ladies.* *Bluets.*

Found in grassy meadows, pastures, and waysides during May; generally in poor soil.

The slender, little, pale green flower-stems, from 2 to 6 inches in height, sometimes branch, bear but few leaves, and rise from a foot-tuffet of leaves.

These foot-leaves are very small, with little rounded tips, while the stem-leaves are still smaller, long, narrow, and clasping in pairs. They are entire, thin, and light green.

The flower has a tiny 4-parted, green calyx, and a tubular corolla which spreads at the top into a 4-pointed star; very delicate in texture, and varying from pure white to a deep china blue, with a dainty ring of yellow in the center.

A very communistic plant is the Innocence, growing in great patches along pasture fences and in meadow rifts and hollows, powdering the greening slopes of early May with its many blossoms like a belated spring snow-fall. Its buds droop, but the opened flowers lift up their faces to reflect the sky; its calices hug the corollas, and after they have fallen still guard the enlarged oval seed-boxes. It is not unusual to find 3- or 5-pointed stars, and even 6- or 7-pointed variations are occasionally discoverable. Tufts of seedlings found in the late autumn will flower all winter, if well-potted and watered and given plenty of fresh air.

*Partridge-berry.* Mitchella repens. *Twin-berry.* *Fox-berry.* *Box-berry.* *Two-eye-berry.*

Found in June, in dry woods, about the roots of pine trees.

This little running vine, 4 to 10 inches in length, is smooth and slender, leafy and occasionally branching. In color, a pale green or dark bronze-green.