Minnesota Plant Life. 



391 



flowers are produced in more or less flat-topped clusters, and 

 each one matures into a stone-fruit with much the flavor and 

 appearance of the cranberry. The maple-leafed arrowwood has 

 the same maple-shaped leaves seen in the high bush cran- 

 berry, but the stone-fruits are nearly spherical and black. 

 This variety does not grow more than six feet high. The 

 downy-leafed arrowwood, with elm-shaped leaves, has black, 

 oblong stone-fruits. Another sort, very similar in the foliage, 

 has almost spherical fruits of a dark blue color. Both these 

 arrowwoods have coarsely notched leaves. The withe-rods and 

 sheepberry Viburnums have plum-shaped leaves with fine teeth 

 along the edge. In the withe-rod the fruits are of a pink or 

 blue color and the stone is round, or slightly flattened. In the 

 sheepberry the fruits are blue or black, with flat disk-like stones. 



These various Viburmims are found in moist woods or 

 swamps. Some of them, like the sheepberry, the downy arrow- 

 wood and the high bush cranberry, are not uncommon through- 

 out the state, especially toward the north. The others are rarer 

 or local in their distribution. 



Horse-gentians. The horse-gentian, or feverwort, is a com- 

 mon herb in rich woodland, especially throughout the southern 

 and central portions of the state. The leaves are opposite, 

 entire and in most instances blended by their bases around the 

 stem, so that the stem seems to grow through the leaves. The 

 flowers arise in the axils and are of a purplish hue. The stone- 

 fruits are orange-red, hairy, and have three nutlets. 



Twinflowers. The twinflower, not uncommon throughout 

 the wooded portion of the state, grows among moss and might 

 be mistaken for the partridgeberry. The slender branches trail 

 over the ground, producing small opposite leaves, and occa- 

 sional side stems, at the ends of which pairs of nodding flowers 

 are borne. The flowers of the partridgeberry are erect and 

 four-parted, but those of the twinflower are five-parted. There 

 are usually, however, but four stamens. The fruit is nearly 

 spherical, with a single ripened seed. 



Snowberries. The snowberries are little shrubs not over five 

 feet high, and in one variety rarely over six inches. They have 

 white, berry-like fruits produced in clusters in the axils of the 

 leaves, except in one species in which the berry is red. The 



