Shrubs somewhat tree-like, with 4-sided branchlets, opposite, serrate leaves, and loose cymes of angular fruit which bursts open in the autumn.
E. atropurpùreus.
1. Euónymus atropurpùreus, Jacq. (Burning-bush. Wahoo.) Leaves petioled, oval-oblong, pointed; parts of the dark-purple flowers commonly in fours; pods smooth, deeply lobed, when ripe, cinnamon in color and very ornamental. Tall shrub, 6 to 20 ft. high; wild in Wisconsin to New York, and southward; often cultivated.
E. Europæus.
2. Euónymus Europæus, L. (European Spindle-tree or Burning-bush.) Leaves oblong-lanceolate, serrate, smooth; flowers and fruit commonly in threes on compressed stems; fruit usually 4-lobed, the lobes acute; flowers greenish-white; May; fruit abundant, scarlet, ripe in September. Generally a shrub, though sometimes tall enough (4 to 20 ft.) and trimmed so as to appear tree-like; twigs smooth, green or reddish-green. Extensively cultivated; from Europe.
Order XIV. RHAMNÀCEÆ.
(Buckthorn Family.)
An order mainly of shrubs, but including in the north-eastern United States two or three small trees.