PLANTS OF SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY. 615 



to the "Oleander patch" several times. Entering a low wood 

 I w^alked for perhaps two hundred yards on a gradual descent 

 until I reached a point where white cedars began to appear, 

 and soon the ground pitched steeply down to the char- 

 acteristic sphagnum bottom of the cedar swamp, with great 

 rank growths of ferns, Woodwardias, Osinunda cinnauioinca and 

 Dryoptcris simidata. The cedars rose on every hand like tall 

 columns, their dense tops shutting off much of the light, and 

 under them, with tangled and twisted trunks and branches, grew 

 the Rhododendrons, the masses of white blossoms standing out 

 conspicuously against the dark leaves and the general gloom. 

 The high humidity, the absolute lack of motion in the air, and 

 the low basin-like character of the spot made it extremely oppres- 

 sive and the atmosphere seemed fairly reeking with moisture. 



I have suffered from excessive perspiration in the Rhododen- 

 dron thickets of the Alleghenies much as I did that day in the 

 cedar swamp, and perhaps the similarly humid conditions are 

 what the plant needs. It was interesting to note growing with it 

 another straggler from the north, Ilicioides mucronata, brought 

 evidently by the same climatic upheaval which drove the Rhodo- 

 dendron so far to the south of its usual range. The swamp 

 stretched away on all sides, and one might wander for hours 

 through its gloomy depths without finding this little thicket, or 

 without finding the way out ag-ain, if it were not for the path 

 that had been opened up by woodchoppers. Another larger 

 patch of Rhododendrons has been seen by gunners in winter 

 time in the swamps bordering the upper Egg Harbor River, but 

 I could find no one who had visited it in summer, and those who 

 had stumbled upon it in autumn or winter could not find their 

 way back again. 



Fl. — Late June to late July. Fr. — Early August into autumn. 



Middle District. — Bordentown, Kinkora, Florence (C). 

 Pine Barrens. — Near Sicklerville, Near Atsion. 



DENDRIUM Desvaux. 



Dendrium buxifolium (Berg.). Sand Myrtle. 



PI. XCVL, Fig. 2. 

 Ledum buxifolium Berg, Act. Petrop. 1:213. 1778 [New Jersey]. 

 Ammyrsine buxifolia Pursh, FI. Am. Sept. I. 301. 1814. 

 Leiophyllum buxifolium Knieskern 20. — Willis 39. — Britton 161. 

 Dendrium buxifolium Keller and Brown 247. 



