Dirca palustris L.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Dirca palustris' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/dirca/dirca-palustris/). Accessed 2024-03-27.

Genus

Common Names

  • Leatherwood

Other taxa in genus

    Glossary

    perianth
    Calyx and corolla. Term used especially when petals and sepals are not easily distinguished from each other.
    alternate
    Attached singly along the axis not in pairs or whorls.
    drupe
    A fleshy dehiscent or indehiscent fruit with one to several seeds each enclosed in a hard endocarp (the stone).
    glabrous
    Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
    glaucous
    Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).

    References

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    Credits

    Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

    Recommended citation
    'Dirca palustris' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/dirca/dirca-palustris/). Accessed 2024-03-27.

    A deciduous shrub 3 to 6 ft high, with flexible, jointed branches, and very tough, glabrous bark; buds downy. Leaves alternate, oval or obovate; 112 to 3 in. long, about half as wide; tapered at both ends, not toothed, glabrous and pale green above, somewhat glaucous beneath; stalk 18 in. or less long. Flowers appearing in March at the joints of the naked wood, usually three together on very short stalks. Perianth-tube 13 in. long, narrowly funnel-shaped, faintly lobed, pale yellow; stamens eight, protruded. Fruit a pale, oval drupe, 13 in. long, rarely seen in Britain.

    Native of eastern N. America; introduced in 1750. This is not a showy plant, and its yellow flowers are often injured by spring frost, but it is an interesting one. It is moisture-loving, and likes a deep soil to which some peat is added. A specimen in the Cambridge Botanic Garden attained a diameter of 9 ft. The remarkable toughness and flexibility of the shoots have been taken advantage of in several ways. In early times Native Americans used the bark for making ropes, and the twigs are still used in rural districts as tying material and for basket-making.