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Wild flowers of the north-eastern states

Chapter 53: MEZEREUM FAMILY. THYMELÆACEÆ.
By Ellen Miller
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Nature/Gardening/Animals

About This Book

This illustrated manual gathers 308 common wildflowers of the northeastern United States, each drawn life-size and accompanied by plain-language descriptions emphasizing habit, color, and growth rather than technical dissection. Organized by floral families in the sequence of Gray's Manual and arranged for seasonal bloom, entries include leaves, stems, and often whole growth, with occasional shrubs, vines, and fruit shown where notable. Aimed at amateur naturalists, it favors recognizable traits and folk names to ease identification, offers practical notes on variations and habitat, and pairs accurate botanical classification with accessible, pictorial presentation.

MEZEREUM FAMILY.
THYMELÆACEÆ.

Leatherwood.Dirca palustris.
Moosewood.

Found in light moist woodlands in April.

A shrub, from 2 to 4, or 5, feet in height, branching in an angular fashion; the smooth close bark is very flexible and tough, gray-brown, and slightly shining, dotted with lighter color.

The oval leaf is entire, strong-fibred, and smooth, and set on a very short stem. The arrangement is generally alternate, and the color a full green.

The small tubular flower, with slightly notched edges, and a thin texture, is of a beautiful golden yellow color; the 8 orange-tipped stamens and the pistil hang from the mouth of the tube. The flowers droop in small clusters from the hold of three or four bracts which are beautifully smooth and green on the inside, and thickly covered with a fine purplish down on the outside; they are set irregularly along the branches.

It is stated in Gray’s Manual there are as many temporary bracts as there are flowers, but no hard and fast rule is observed in nature in such details; according to personal observation 4 is the usual number. These bracts fall as soon as the leaves push forth. It is noted that the flowers lose their color as the leaf-buds swell, although they do not wither until the leaves are unrolling. The bark is so elastic and tough that a knot may be tied, without its breaking, in a stem as big as the little finger. The first glimpse of this gray bush strung with its golden jewels and never a trace of green about its branches, gives a pleasure akin to the more spiritual delight of beholding the Wych Hazel which occupies the same place in nature at the other end of the flower year.