62 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



bush", and "spiked alder", in reference to the color of its 

 flowers, and "sweet pepper-bush" from its fragrance. 



The plant most frequently called "fetter-bush" is proba- 

 bly Leucothoe Cateshaei. This is also the "dog-hobble", the 

 name given for the same reason that "fetter-bush" is. It has 

 poisonous properties and from this circumstance it is known 

 as "poison hemlock," though the plant is most distantly re- 

 lated to the true hemlock. "Dog laurel" refers to this idea 

 that small animals have difficulty in making a way through 

 thickets of this plant. Lencothe racemosa is another "pepper- 

 bush" and also "white osier". The only real tree among the 

 American heathworts is the "sour-wood" {Oxydendriun ar- 

 bor cimi). The vernacular name, however, is inexact for it 

 is the leaves and not the wood that is sour. "Sorrel tree" 

 is not inappropriate but "elk-tree" is still a puzzle. 



There remains to be noted, four members of the Erica- 

 ceae that are so unlike others as scarcely to warrant inclusion 

 with them. These last species are parasitic or saprophytic 

 plants, lacking green color in all of their parts and so fungus- 

 like in ' their growth and nutrition that the unbotanical are 

 wont to regard them as true fungi. The most familiar is 

 the "Indian pipe" or "corpse plant {Monotropa uniflora), 

 which springs up suddenly in shaded woodlands after a 

 summer rain. The urn-shaped single flowers on scaly stems 

 bend toward the earth in exact similitude to a small white 

 pipe. The derivation of such names as "pipe plant," "Dutch- 

 man's pipe", and "fairy smoke is apparent. "Ghost flower" 

 and "corpse plant", of course refers to the pure white flowers 

 and "bird's nest" may refer to its tangle of fibrous roots, but 

 this is not certain. The plant has some reputation as a medi- 

 cinal herb — which it does not deserve — and has been called 

 "convulsion weed", fit-root plant", and "eye-bright". The 

 name of "American ice plant" alludes to the translucent white- 



