386 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



varies in different exposures and on different plants, with every 

 shade of rose and flesh-color to pure white. The stamens are 

 ten, very unequal, inclining towards the lower side of the 

 flower, of the color of the corolla, on slender filaments, which 

 are larger and densely covered with silky down near the base. 

 The anthers consist of two short sacks, opening at the apex 

 with round, bordered pores, and discharging white pollen. The 

 ovary is roundish, surmounted by a curved style which gradu- 

 ally enlarges upwards and terminates in a broad, five-sided, 

 stigmatic surface. The capsule is egg-shaped, five-angled and 

 five-celled, with numerous, minute seeds. 



The rose bay is found as far north as the town of Standish, 

 on the borders of Sebago Lake, in Maine. It grows in great 

 abundance in an extensive swamp in Medfield, not far from 

 Charles River, and in a smaller one in Attleborough. It every- 

 where delights in deep, moist shades. In the Northern States, 

 it occurs only at intervals, in protected situations. It is of 

 more frequent occurrence in the Middle States, and in the deep 

 valleys among the higher ranges of the Alleghanies, especially 

 in Virginia, it becomes so abundant, according to Michaux, on 

 the sides of the mountain torrents, as to form impenetrable 

 thickets, in which the bear finds a secure retreat from the pur- 

 suit of dogs and hunters. 



Pursh describes three marked varieties of the American Rose 

 Bay. The first, with rose-colored flowers, found in the moun- 

 tains, by rivulets and lakes, from Canada to Carolina, flowering 

 in June and July ; the second, with smaller flowers perfectly 

 white, in the shady cedar swamps of New Jersey and Dela- 

 ware, flowering in July and August; the third, with purple 

 flowers, growing on the highest mountains of Virginia and Ca- 

 rolina, near lakes, and flowering in May and June. This last 

 grows to a large size, with a stem eighteen inches in diameter, 

 and foliage thrice the size of any other variety. He considers it 

 as approaching the Pontic Rhododendron. The two former 

 varieties, which differ only in the color and size of the flowers, 

 are to be found in Massachusetts. 



The Dwarf Rose Bay is readily cultivated, if planted in the 

 peat or bog soil which is everywhere to be found in New Eng- 



