372 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



The Water Andromeda. A. polifblia. L. 



It was for this modest and delicate plant, which is a native 

 of the north of Europe as well as of this country, that Lin- 

 nseus selected tiie poetical name of the genus. The follow- 

 ing is the account which himself gives of it in his " Tour in 

 Lapland," I, 188. "Andromeda polifolia was now (June 12,) 

 in its highest beauty, decorating the marshy grounds in a most 

 agreeable manner. The flowers are quite blood-red before 

 they expand ; but, when full grown, the corolla is of a flesh- 

 color. Scarcely any painter's art can so happily imitate the 

 beauty of a fine female complexion; still less could any arti- 

 ficial color upon the face itself bear a comparison with this 

 lovely blossom. As I contemplated it, I could not help think- 

 ing of Andromeda, as described by the poets ; and the more I 

 meditated upon their descriptions, the more applicable they 

 seemed to the little plant before me ; so that, if these writers 

 had it in view, they could scarcely have contrived a more appo- 

 site fable. Andromeda is represented by them as a virgin of 

 most exquisite and unrivalled charms; but these charms remain 

 in perfection only so long as she retains her virgin purity, which, 

 is also applicable to the plant now preparing to celebrate its 

 nuptials. This plant is always fixed on some little turfy hillock 

 in the midst of the swamps, as Andromeda herself was chained 

 to a rock in the sea, which bathed her feet, as the fresh water- 

 does the roots of this plant. Dragons and venomous serpents 

 surrounded her, as toads and other reptiles frequent the abode 

 of her vegetable resembler, and, when they pair in the spring, 

 throw mud and water over its leaves and branches. As the 

 distressed virgin cast down her blushing face through excessive 

 affliction, so does this rosy -colored flower hang its head, grow- 

 ing paler and paler till it withers away." " At length, comes 

 Perseus, in the shape of summer, dries up the surrounding 

 water, and destroys the monsters, rendering the damsel a fruit- 

 ful mother, who then carries her head (the capsule) erect." 



This, as it is found here, is a low shrub, a foot or more in 

 height, growing naturally in boggy places, but capable of being 

 successfully cultivated in any common, moist soil. The stem 



