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AMERICAN MEDICI^'AL LEAVES AND HERBS. 



GRAVEL PLANT. 



Epigaea repens L. 



Other common names. — Trailins^ urbulus. Mayflower, shad-flower, ground laurel, 

 mountain pink, winter pink. 



Habitat and range. — This shrubby little plant, spreads out on the ground in sandy 



soil, being found especially 

 under evergreen trees from 

 Florida to Michigan and 

 northward. 



Description. — The gravel 

 plant is one of our early 

 spring flowers, and under 

 its more popular name 

 "trailing arbutus" it is 

 greatly prized on account 

 of its delicate shell-pink, 

 waxy blossoms with their 

 faint yet spicy fragrance. 

 Gra^■el plant is the name 

 that is generally applied 

 to it in the drug trade. It 

 spreads on the ground with. 

 stems 6 inches or more in 

 length and has rust-colored 

 hairy twigs bearing ever- 

 green leaves. The leaves 

 are green above and below, 

 thick and leathery, oval or 

 roundish, sometimes with 

 the top pointed, blunt, or 

 having a short stiff point 

 and a rounded or heart- 

 shaped base. The mar- 

 sins are unbroken and the 



Fig. 10.— Gravel plant (Epigaea repens), leave.s and flowers. 



upper surface is smooth, while the lower surface is somewhat hairy. The leaves 

 measure from 1 to 3 inches in length and are about half as wide, the hairy stalks sup- 

 porting them ranging from one-fourth of an inch to 2 inches in length. Early in the 

 year, from about March to May, the flower clusters appear. These are borne in the 

 axils of the leaves and at the ends of the branches and consist of several waxy, 

 pinkish-white, fragrant flowers with saucer-shaped, 5-lobed corolla, the throat of the 

 corolla tube being very densely hairy within. (Fig. 10.) The seed capsule is some- 

 what roundish, flattened, five celled, and conti\ins numerous seeds. The gravel plant 

 belongs to the heath family (Ericaceae) and is a perennial. 



Collection, prices, and uses. — The leaves are collected at flowering time and are 

 worth about 3 or 4 cents a pound. Tliey have a bitter, astringont taste and are said 

 to possess astringent and diuretic properties. 

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