above, alternate or in triplets, destitute of stipules, petiolated, lanceolate
ovate, glabrous, shining on the upper disk, very much and
irregularly waved on the margin, and attenuated equally at apex and
base. Petioles from half an inch to an inch long, tinged with red.
Flowers without bracts, axillary, solitary and few, consisting, both
male and female, of a perianth of nine concave, two-coloured, deciduous
leaves, the exterior three being yellow, and the largest_the
inner six gradually smaller, and bright-scarlet.
Male flower. There is no corolla, nor are there filaments to the
anthers, which are five in number, closely sessile on the receptacle.
They are of an oblong shape, contiguous at base, cohering by their
summits, and separated in the middle by chinks.
Female flower. Calix same as in the male. Likewise no corolla,
that which appears to be such in both male and female flowers, being
a nine-leaved perianth. Pistils numerous, with sessile, pointed
stigmas; germens numerous, egg-shaped, closely arranged on a receptacle
which becomes subsequently elongated. Fruit consists of
a raceme of carmine-red, one-seeded, smooth, shining, ovate berries,
situated on a carmine-red elongated receptacle, which supports also,
at least as many yellow abortive acini, as ripe berries. Seed ovate-
oblong, somewhat smooth; a native of the southern states, growing
in shady places. Near Savannah. Flowers in June and July, ripening
its fruit in September and October.
1
This plant is the only species of a North American genus established
by Michaux, and named Schisandra by him from a
fissure, and amg, a male, because the anthers are nearly separated by
fissures in the receptacle of the flower. He found it indigenous in
the Carolinas and Georgia ; and further north than North Carolina
it has not been found. Its remarkable feature is the mode of producing
its fruit : for a long raceme of berries could scarcely be
expected to follow the solitary female flower, supported by a filiform
nutant peduncle. This becomes a long, red receptacle ; and a progressive
development of a raceme of berries ensues, from the aggregate
germs of the female flower. So far as botanists have yet discovered,
Schisandra is peculiar to the southern section of the Union.
It has certainly never been seen in a wild state north of the Carolinas.
It is a hardy perennial, and withstands the severity of our winter
in this state without any particular care. It has been introduced
into the gardens of England by Lyon, since the year 1806, and flourishes
there in exposed borders, suffering only from very severe
winters.
The figure was designed from specimens obtained last summer
at the gardens of Messrs. Landreth, where it flowered in perfection
the first time for years, though it has always been conspicuous for
its vigour.