FLOWERING SHRUBS. 137 



four feet, it is bushy in habit, but somewhat open and spreading ; the 

 leaves are lanceolate, entire, very decidedly revolute at the margins, and 

 clothed with a dense rust-coloured woolly felt beneath. The leaves are 

 of a thick leathery texture, and dull brownish-green colour. The 

 flowers are white, forming elegant umbel-like clusters at the summits of 

 the slender sprays. As the heads of flowers are very abundant, this 

 shrub forms a striking object, when seen growing in numbers, along the 

 banks of lakes or in low flats, for it will flourish both on wet and dry 

 situations, nor does it refuse to flower when brought into garden culture. 

 It is a very ornamental object, deserving to be better known than at 

 present seems to be the case. The leaves when bruised emit an agreeable 

 resinous aromatic odour. 



The roots of the Labrador-Tea are wiry and covered with a bitter 

 astringent bark. Professor Lindley also mentions, in his Natural System 

 of Botany, the astringent qualities of another member of the family 

 Ledu/n palusire, (L.), a slightly smaller shrub with narrower leaves and 

 oval instead of oblong pods ; the stamens too are uniformly ten instead 

 of five and seven as in this species. L. palustre is found in the north 

 of Europe and also in the far north in Canada. 



Wild Rosemary. — Androiueda polifolia, (L.) 



is another of our native shrubs which grows in peat bogs, and on the 

 swampy margins of lakes, associated with Labrador Tea, the Pitcher 

 Plant and the elegant Low bush Cranberry. The stems are from three 

 to eighteen inches in height, and bear on the summits of the branches 

 of the previous year the light purplish flowers, which are three to eight 

 in number, on rather long pedicels and drooping in a one-sided raceme? 

 the stamens are ten in number and remain persistent on the dry berry- 

 like capsule. The leaves are shining green above, glaucous-white 

 beneath and have the margins so strongly revolute as to appear almost 

 linear. This plant is said to have astringent and narcotic properties, 

 and to give intoxicating qualities to liquids in which it is infused. 



Silky Cornel — Kinnikinnic.^ — Cornus sericea, (L.) 



This species is the true Kinnikinnic of the Lidians of Central 

 Canada, the leaves and bark of which they use in the place of 

 tobacco, or mixed with it. I have been told it is of an intoxicating 

 quality. The bark is also used as a tonic and febrifuge. The 

 berries are pale blue ; the flowers form flat cymes, and are greenish- 

 white, the young bark is purplish. The bush grows to the height 

 of eight to ten feet, in low damp rich ground forming dense 

 thickets. There is a fine white silky fibre in the leaves, which may 



