ROSACE^E 



Tomentosa: from Latin, signifying a stuffing of wool or 

 hair, in allusion to the white, wooly pubescence on the 

 under side of the leaves. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: damp places. 



THE PLANT: erect, two feet to three feet high, unbranched; 

 the stem with few short, soft hairs, woody. 



THE LEAVES: numerous; erect; alternate; dark green; 

 hairless, or woolly above, with short, soft hairs; very light, 

 with white woolly short, soft hairs below; obtuse or acut- 

 ish at the apex; narrowed or rounded at the base; pinnately 

 net-veined. 



THE FLOWERS: small, in dense racemes, crowded into a 

 panicle. Petals obovate, darker at the centre, clawed; 

 stamens numerous, long, persistent. 



THE FRUIT: follicles. 



A decorative plant when seen close to, as it grows among 

 the grasses and sedges and one well described by the popu- 

 lar name of Steeple-bush, for the many rose-pink flowers 

 are crowded in a pyramidal spirsea-like cluster at the 

 summit of straight stems, which are somewhat relieved 

 from their stiffness by numerous prettily-shaped toothed 

 leaves, which are a dark green above and a very light 

 white-brown below. Sometimes such a touch of colour 

 among the yellow-green grasses of the blue pond's border 

 is so conspicuous that the flowers are noticeable from the 

 carriage road at a considerable distance. 



The plant is not without medicinal value, having been 

 used to make a tonic and an astringent. 



ROSACE^E ROSE FAMILY 



Pyrus arbutifolia, (L.) Ell. 



White or tinged with red Choke-pear, 



Red Choke-berry, 

 April-June Dog-berry. 



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