Dr. John Nelson

Photo by Linda Lee Now that it's summer, the trick to being outdoors on sunny days is to find the shady places. Whether in the sun or in the shade, anyone visiting the woods and forests here in the east will be struck by just how green everything seems to be getting.

Green is the color of leaves rather than flowers. In plants, the color green indicates the process of photosynthesis, plants' food- making capability made possible only with the green pigment, chlorophyll.

The Mystery Plant seems to be almost entirely green. It's a shrub, usually no more than about six feet tall, commonly producing underground runners and forming clumps.

It may be most notable for its leaves, which for all the world look as though they belong on a maple tree. This shrub is not related to maples, but both groups have their leaves arranged in pairs.

On the other hand, this shrub's flowers are nothing like those found on a maple, and neither are the fruits. Its flowers are tiny and creamy- yellow, held together in flat- topped arrangements at the ends of twigs.

Its fruits start out green, forming one- seeded, slightly flattened drupes. The drupes become a handsome purple- black and eventually get a bit wrinkly and look like raisins. They remain on the bush through the winter when hungry birds and critters seek them out.

The leaves are maple- like, palmately lobed, up to about four inches long with serrated margins and three prominent veins originating and branching away from the blade base. In the fall, the foliage turns a bit yellow and then reddish or purple, thus offering a handsome show, especially with the ripe fruits.

This plant has a number of other close relatives in our area, and there are also a number of introduced and related species cultivated for ornament or as hedges. Some are evergreen.

This species is fairly common in a variety of woods and forests on high ground from eastern Canada to Minnesota and south to Florida. Within the Atlantic states, it is most likely to be seen in the mountains and on the piedmont, but there are several places in our sandhill counties where you can find it in shaded ravines and on bluffs.

Spring's outburst of flowers has dwindled away; however, there will be a number of showy summer- bloomers out over the next three months. Now is the time to cultivate an appreciation for the color green while there aren't a lot of gaudy, distracting flowers.

Answer to this week's mystery plant

[Answer: "Maple-leaf Viburnum," "Dockmackie," Viburnum acerifolium]

Dr. John Nelson is the curator of the USC Herbarium.

To learn more about the Herbarium, call 777-8196. The

department also offers free plant identification.

www.herbarium.org