Honeysuckle Family. — Caprifoliaceæ
Smooth-leaved Honeysuckle. Lonicera glauca.
Found in rocky grounds and uplands during May.
A bushy, and somewhat twining shrub, leafy and tough, which grows from 3 to 5 feet high, with a gray bark, that is green when young.
The rather large leaf is oval, and broadest at the base, with a rounded tip, and an entire margin; the fibre is firm and the surface is smooth; in color it is green, silvery underneath. The leaves occur opposite each other, the upper ones growing completely together around the stalk, the lower being only partly united.
The small flower has a slender tubular corolla spreading into 2 unequal divisions, the upper broad, and 4-cleft, the lower entire, long, and narrow; in color a pale, dull tawny or red; the 5 long stamens, with their very distinct tips, are pale greenish-yellow; the long pistil is tipped with a green disc; the round calyx is minutely 5-parted, and green. The flowers, on the ends of the branches, are set close around the stalk in whorls, usually of 6, after the Honeysuckle habit.
What charm the flowers lack in fragrance, the plant makes up in the graceful curves of its partly twining stems, and in its attractive leafage.
| Maple-leaved Arrow-wood. | Viburnum acerifolium. |
| Dockmackie. |
Found in light, rocky woods, in May and June.
The tough, woody stalk, growing from 2 to 3 feet high, is branching, and covered with a smooth brown bark.
The broad, 3-lobed leaf much resembles a maple leaf in outline; it has, however, a soft downy surface, especially beneath,—the upper side is sometimes smooth. The leaves are set in pairs, on short foot-stems. Color green.
The small, 5-parted flower has 5 stamens, alternating with its rounded divisions. The flowers are white, and the buds pink-tinted; they grow in a flat-topped cluster, on a foot-stem springing from between the terminal pair of leaves.
In the softly diffused light of the autumn woods, its clusters of black berries, and mulberry colored leafage prove attractive to the æsthetic eye. Its habit of growth also is pleasing.
| Linnæa. | Linnæa borealis. |
| Twin-flower. |
Found in cool, mossy woods, and cold damp bogs; blossoming in early June.
A trailing vine with a round, rough, and woody-fibred, reddish stem, running over the ground.
The pretty, rounding leaf has a few scallops on its edge, a slightly rough surface, and a dry texture; it is evergreen, of a rich, dark green color. The leaves are in pairs, on short foot-stems.
The little bell-shaped corolla is about ½ an inch long, narrowing into a small tube at the bottom, and widening at the top where it is 5-parted; it is fine in texture, fragrant, and in color white, tinged with pink. The tiny green calyx has 5 thread-like divisions. The slender flower-stems, rising erect from the creeping stalk to a height of 3 or 4 inches, fork near the top to bear the nodding twin flowers.
Bush Honeysuckle. Diervilla trifida.
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.