Bitter-sweet. Wax-work.
Celastrus scandens. Staff-tree Family.
Stem.—Woody, twining. Leaves.—Alternate, oblong, finely toothed, pointed. Flowers.—Small, greenish, or cream-color, in raceme-like clusters, appearing in June. Pod.—Orange-colored, globular, and berry-like, curling back in three divisions when ripe so as to display the scarlet covering of the seeds within.
The small flowers of the bitter-sweet, which appear in June, rarely attract attention. But in October no lover of color can fail to admire the deep orange pods which at last curl back so as advantageously to display the brilliant scarlet covering of the seeds. Perhaps we have no fruit which illuminates more vividly the roadside thicket of late autumn; or touches with greater warmth those tumbled, overgrown walls which are so picturesque a feature in parts of the country, and do in a small way for our quiet landscapes what vine-covered ruins accomplish for the scenery of the Old World.
Culver’s Root.
Veronica Virginica. Figwort Family.
Stem.—Straight and tall, from two to six feet high. Leaves.—Whorled, lance-shaped, finely toothed. Flowers.—White, small, growing in slender clustered spikes. Calyx.—Irregularly four or five-toothed. Corolla.—Four or five-lobed. Stamens.—Two, protruding. Pistil.—One.
The tall straight stems of the culver’s root lift their slender spikes in midsummer to a height that seems strangely at variance with the habit of this genus. The small flowers, however, at once betray their kinship with the speedwells. Although it is, perhaps, a little late to look for the white wands of the black cohosh the two plants might easily be confused in the distance, as they have much the same aspect and seek alike the cool recesses of the woods. This same species grows in Japan and was introduced into English gardens nearly two hundred years ago. It is one of the many Indian remedies which were adopted by our forefathers.
Black Cohosh. Bugbane. Black Snakeroot.
Cimicifuga racemosa. Crowfoot Family.
Stem.—Three to eight feet high. Leaves.—Divided, the leaflets toothed or incised. Flowers.—White, growing in elongated wand-like racemes. Calyx.—Of four or five white petal-like sepals, falling early. Corolla.—Of from one to eight white petals or transformed stamens. Stamens.—Numerous, with slender white filaments. Pistils.—One to three.
The tall white wands of the black cohosh shoot up in the shadowy woods of midsummer like so many ghosts. A curious-looking plant it is, bearing aloft the feathery flowers which have such an unpleasant odor that even the insects are supposed to avoid them. Fortunately they are sufficiently conspicuous to be admired at a distance, many a newly cleared hill-side and wood-border being lightened by their slender, torch-like racemes which flash upon us as we travel through the country. The plant was one of the many which the Indians believed to be efficacious for snake-bites. The generic name is from cimex—a bug, and fugare—to drive away.