396 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



The Broad-leaved Ledum. Labrador Tea. L. latifblium. L. 

 Figured in Audubon's Birds of America, II, Plate 191. 



A low, evergreen, branching shrub, with the recent shoots 

 and under surface of the leaves densely covered with rust- 

 colored wool. The older branches are reddish brown or cop- 

 per-colored ; the stem is nearly black. The leaves are on very 

 short footstalks, lance-shaped, obtuse, with the border much 

 revolute, of a light green above, and covered with a rusty down 

 or wool beneath. Flowers erect, in crowded, terminal corymbs, 

 on slender, somewhat downy stems, rising from the bosom of a 

 short, concave bract, covered with resinous dots. The calyx is 

 minute, with five obtuse teeth. Corolla of five, oblong, rounded, 

 white petals. Stamens from five to ten, as long as the petals, 

 on slender filaments, with small, white, or yellowish anthers 

 opening by two terminal pores. Ovary roundish. Style white, 

 turning red, as long as the stamens, persistent, with a small 

 stigma. The capsule is oblong-oval, crowned with the style, 

 and supported by the calyx, nodding until it begins to open, 

 which it does by five valves at bottom, when it is inverted and 

 pendent. The leaves growing on branches near the ground, 

 are sometimes nearly destitute of wool, and are flat, short, ellip- 

 tical, and scattered with resinous dots beneath. The root or 

 subterranean stem is large, and throws out numerous, wool-like 

 radicles. Flowers in May and June. 



In Labrador, its leaves have been used as a substitute for 

 tea. It is found in all the countries north of us, and in sphag- 

 nous swamps in Pittsfield, Richmond, and Hubbardston, in this 

 State. The ledum may be cultivated in a peat soil or sandy 

 loam, and is readily propagated by layers or by seeds. 



