A more common shrub than the foregoing. The shoots are slender and very straight, from whence it has received the name of Arrow wood. Leaves roundish or oval, very regularly toothed, the veins parallel and prominent underneath.-Moist woods.-June, July.

VIBURNUM ACERIFOLIUM. L.

Maple Viburnum.

Leaves three lobed, acuminate, sharply serrate; petioles without glands, hairy. Willd.

Leaves rounded or hearted at base, broad, divided into three lobes, with large teeth, very soft with minute down underneath. Cymes on long peduncles.-Woods, Roxbury.-June, July.

The different species of Viburnum are fine flowering shrubs, and with the Elder, next described, constitute a principal ornament of our woods and thickets during the first part of sum

mer.

90.

SAMBUCUS.

SAMBUCUS CANADENSIS. L.

Common Elder.

Cymes five parted; leaves nearly bipinnate, stem shrubby. Willd.

Michaux says he could observe no difference between this species and the Sambucus nigra of Europe, except in size, the latter being a tree, the former a shrub. Leaves pinnate, the lower leafets double or ternate, and all of them oblong-oval, sharply serrate, tapering to a very long and acute point. Flowers white; berries blackish; both considered medicinal.-June, July.

91. RHUS.

RHUS GLABRUM. L.

Smooth Sumach.

Glabrous; leaves pinnate, of many pairs, leafets

lance-oblong, serrate, whitish underneath. Mich. abr.

A common species of Sumach found about fences and borders of fields. Petioles and leaves unarmed and smooth. The flowers are diœcious. The leaves of this and the two following species are astringent and used in tanning. Berries crimson, astringent, and acid-June, July.

Branches and petioles hairy; leaves pinnate, of many pairs, hairy underneath; leafets lance-oblong, sharply serrate.

A larger species than the last; its leafstalks and last years branches covered with thick bristly hair. Bunches of berries crowded, purple, velvet like. I believe this species to be diœcious. In low ground.-June.

The bark and leaves give out a milky juice on being broken, both in this and the other species.

RHUS COPALLINUM. L.

Mountain or Dwarf Sumach.

Leaves pinnate, entire; petioles membranous, jointed. L.

A smaller shrub than the preceding. The young branches and petioles are downy. Leafets oval-lanceolate, acute, entire. Between each pair the petiole spreads out into a broad leafy expansion, contracted at the insertion of the leafets. Flowers diœcious.

RHUS VERNIx. L.

Poison dogwood. Swamp Sumach. Quite glabrous; leaves pinnate, of many pairs; leafets oval, abruptly acuminate, entire; panicle lax; flowers dioecious; fruit smooth. Mich. abr.

Grows in bunches in wet swamps, where its fine smooth

Petioles long,

Leafets oval,

Teaves give it the air of a tropical shrub or tree. roundish, smooth; the partial ones very short. terminating in a short point. Peduncle long, smooth, supporting a loose panicle of small flowers, which are diœcious. Berries white.

The effluvium of this shrub is a violent poison to certain constitutions, producing in them a distressing cutaneous eruption, when it is handled or even approached. On others, and I believe on a majority, it exerts no influence. The leaves have been rubbed, chewed, and swallowed without injury. Their taste is simply herbaceous and astringent, and does not indicate any extraordinary quality.

In Japan a fine varnish is said to be prepared from the juice of the Rhus vernix, a tree, whose identity with the present, is still a subject of dispute.

RHUS RADICANS. L.

Poison Ivy.

Leaves ternate; leafets petioled, ovate, naked, entire; stem rooting. L.

A hardy climber, frequently seen running up trees to a great height, supporting itself by lateral roots, and becoming nearly buried in their bark. Leaves in threes, large, smooth, roundish, pointed. Racemes sessile, mostly about the axils of the leaves. Flowers diœcious. Berries white.-Poisonous in a less degree than the last.-The juice stains a black colour.-June.

92. SAROTHRA.

SAROTHRA GENTIANOIDES. L.

Syn. HYPERICUM SAROTHRA. Mich.

Pine weed.

A small, erect, branching plant, Leaves appressed, scalelike, so small, that the plant appears leafless. Branches numerous, subdivided, erect. Flowers small, yellow, with from five to ten stamens and three styles. Capsule oblong, coloured. -On sandy soils exposed to the sun.-July, August.

1

A well known aromatic root. It has no stem unles the termination of the root be so considered. Leaves on long stalks, subdivided into three times three, or three times five leafets, which are oval and serrate. The scape rises between the leaf stalks, and supports a few simple umbels.-Woods and thickets-May, June.-Perennial.

ARALIA RACEMOSA. L.

Pettymorrel. Spikenard.

Stem herbaceous, smooth; leaves decompound; peduncles axillary, branching, umbelled. Willd.

Tall and irregulaly branched. Stem smooth, dark green or red. Leafets large, ovate or heart-shaped, serrate. Flowers in small umbels, which are again arranged in branching racemes, from the axils or forks of the stem.-In woods.—June, July.— It is aromatic and in high estimation with people of the country.

ARALIA HISPIDA. Mich.

Bristly Aralia.

Stem shrubby at base, hispid; leaves twice pinnate; leafets cut serrate; umbels on long peduncles. Mich. abr.

The lower part of the stem endures the winter, and has a shrubby appearance, but most of the herb is annual. The stem is set with thick and stiff bristles at the base. Leafets much smaller than in the preceding, sharply and unequally serrate, ending in a long point. Umbels several, on long peduncles.-Woods, Cambridgeport.-June.

94. DROSERA.

DROSERA ROTUNDIFOLIA. L.

Round leaved Sun-dew.

Leaves orbicular, radical, depressed; petioles hairy; scape bearing a simple raceme. Sm.

The thick glandular hairs, which cover the leaves of this and other species, will readily distinguish them from other plants. Leaves small, round, spreading on the ground in a flat circle. Scape smooth, bearing a one-rowed, curved raceme of small white flowers.-Wet, boggy land.-July, August.

95. STATICE.

STATICE LIMONIUM. L.

Marsh rosemary.

Scape panicled, round; leaves smooth, destitute of nerves, tipped with a small point. "Sm.

Very common on our salt marshes, flowering in June and after. Leaves obovate, or spatulate, waved at the edge, very smooth and entire, nerveless, mucronated at the tip. Scape alternately branched, the branches ascending, somewhat corymbed. Flowers numerous, erect, small, blue.-Perennial.

The root is strongly astringent, and with us is an officinal article of considerable consumption.