THE PLANT WORLD 189 



spicuous showy part of a flower, or what seemed to be one, now to the 

 calyx which is generally green and iuconspicuoiis, and again to the in- 

 volucre or circle of modified leaves below the flower cluster. These are 

 the surprises that delight the young botanist. 



In regard to the fruit of the mountain cranberry, William Oakes, 

 who was one of our early New England botanists, and whose name is 

 identified with the flora of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, 

 says: "The fruit when rijje resembles almost exactly in taste the com- 

 mon cranberry, and is equal or superior for tarts and jelly. Ex})ertus 

 dico." I can testify to its fine qualities for jelly, for several years ago, 

 aided by some young friends, I collected my large botany box full of 

 the pretty red berries, on the summit of Mt, Monadnock, New Hamp- 

 shire, and supplied the table of forty guests at our boarding house with 

 a most delicious sauce. The reason that the berry is not common in 

 our markets is because it softens in a short time. The plant is very 

 abundant in the Scandinavian peninsula, and the fruit is imported into 

 this country in small casks which contain just enough water to float the 

 berries and keep them from getting badly crushed, and is sold in Chi- 

 cago under the name of Swedish Lingon. The berries become soft, 

 and the juice escaping mingles with the water, making a rich sauce. 



My Knubble was well wooded. The gray birch {Bctula pojjalifoliu) 

 and the white birch {Betula papyrlfera) were both there. It is the 

 tough bark of the latter species that is used in the manufacture of the 

 well-known birch bark canoes, and how pleased I was to see and know 

 the tree. Of the cone-bearing trees there was i)lenty of white pine 

 {Piniis Strobus), and I was delighted to find a seedling pine with its 

 many cotyledons or seed leaves, arranged in a whorl or circle. It had 

 a good start in life, I thought, and bore the promise of a mighty tree. 

 Two species of poplar were abundant, the American aspen {Populns 

 tremidoides) and the large-toothed aspen {Populns gramUdentata). The 

 almost incessant trembling of the leaves of the aspens even under the 

 slightest breath of air, I could not understand till I examined the flat- 

 tened petioles or stems. This flattening I found to be at right angles 

 to the surface of the leaf, and hence the leaf shakes edgewise. All 

 these well-kno^\Ti facts I then learned for the first time, and I think my 

 pleasure was as great as that of the first discoverer, for was not I a dis- 

 coverer myself? The hop-hornbeam {Ofifnja Virgimca) was full of the 

 greatest interest to me wdth its branc;hes laden with the hop-like fruit. 

 It was strange that the fruit of this tree, which belongs to the oak fam- 

 ily, should resemble so much that of the twining hop, which with our 

 American elm belongs to the nettle family. It Avas merely another sur- 

 prise, and it told me that I must study the structures of the flowers and 

 the relations of one family to another to understand rightly these 



