X 



514 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



bracts underneath. Corolla, united into a tube below, 5-toothed. 

 Stamens, 10. Fruit, a 5-celled capsule. 



A tall shrub, 5 to 10 feet high, with flowers nearly sessile, 

 in close, one-sided racemes terminating the branches, and a 

 few in the leaf-axils. 



Moist woods, from Massachusetts to Florida, along the coast. 



104. Dwarf Cassandra 



Cassandra calyculata. — Family, Heath. Color, white. 

 Leaves, evergreen, leathery, resinous-dotted (especially under- 

 neath), small, oblong, obtuse, flat. 21me, early spring. 



Calyx, of 5 stiff, rigid sepals. Corolla, tubular, cylindrical, 

 5-toothed. Stamens, 10, anthers opening by a hole at the top. 

 Capsule, 5-celled. The waxen-white, close, bell-shaped flowers 

 droop upon slender sprays springing from the axils of the 

 small, upper leaves. 



The shrub often flowers before the snow is off the ground. 

 Nearly related to andromeda. It is found in New England bogs 

 and New Jersey barrens, southward to Georgia. 



Cassandra, daughter of Priam and Hecuba, was a beautiful 

 prophetess. One of the legends connected with her is that she 

 and her brother, while asleep in the sanctuary of Apollo, had their 

 hearing changed so that they could understand the voices of 

 birds. Because Cassandra refused to obey the god Apollo, he 

 ordained that her prophecies should meet with no belief. There- 

 fore, when she predicted the ruin of Troy, the indignant Trojans 

 shut her up in a mad-house. 



105. Mountain Laurel. Spoonwood. Calico-bush 



Kdlmia latifolia (named from Peter Kalm, a pupil of Lin- 

 naeus, and a distinguished botanist). — Family, Heath. Color, 

 white or rose -color. Leaves, thick, evergreen, alternate, ob- 

 long, pointed, on short petioles, opposite, scattered or clus- 

 tered. Time, May and June. 



