EMPETRACE^E BROOM CROWBERRY FAMILY 



Corema Conradii, Torr. 



Red-brown Broom Crowberry. 



March 



Corema: from Greek for a broom, in allusion to the bushy 



aspect of the clumps. 

 Conradii: in honour of a Philadelphia botanist, S. W. 



Conrad. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of the Commons, 

 even in beach sand. 



THE PLANT: shrubby, evergreen, six inches to two feet 

 high, profusely branched; the young twigs with very short 

 hairs. 



THE LEAVES: densely crowded; very small; linear-oblong; 

 when mature, bright green; without hairs; obtuse at the 

 apex; entire. 



THE FLOWERS: of two kinds; numerous, in heads at the 

 ends of the branches, sessile; the staminate the more 

 noticeable on account of the long purple stamens. 



THE FRUIT: a drupe. 



This plant is included, not because it has aesthetic charm, 

 but, rather, because it is interesting botanically. Its 

 presence on Nantucket, Dr. Harshberger claims, is one 

 of the proofs that, ecologically, Nantucket and the plains 

 and pine-barrens of New Jersey are related. 



As for its identification, the dense leaves are fine but 

 rigid, and the red-brown flowers inconspicuous. In general, 

 as the Crowberry grows from one root, its cushiony clumps 

 are high in the centre and lower on the sides. 



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