326 ODOROGEAPHIA. 



are certainly more pleasant when produced by flowers grown in 

 the dark or in a confined atmosphere, because we perceive them in 

 a milder and more bearable degree. Also the statement that the 

 perfume of the Eose is improved by forcing the plant is extremely 

 doubtful. In England the Eose never attains its perfection and 

 full strength of perfume under any circumstances ; the quality 

 and maximum of perfume is only attained in climates where the 

 plant has the benefit of the full power of the sun.] 



Wintergreen. 



The common names Wintergreen, Mountain Tea, Tea-berry, 

 Checker-berry, Partridge-berry, Box-berry, Spice-berry, Jersea Tea, 

 and Ground Holly, are applied to the Gaultheria procumbens 

 Lin., sp. pL, ed. i., p. 395. The best figures of this plant, which 

 belong;s to the Order Ericacece, are g;iven in Andrews' Botanical 

 Eepository, t. 116; Curtis' Bot. Mag., t. 1966; Bentley and Trimen, 

 Med. Plant., t. 164 ; Loddiges' Bot. Cab., t. 82 ; Duhamel, Traite des 

 Arbres, i., p. 286, t. 113. 



It is a small creeping shrub growing in shady woods, on sandy 

 soil, especially in mountainous districts in the southern parts of 

 Canada and the northern United States, extending as far south as 

 North Carolina. It is especially abundant in the pine-barrens of 

 New Jersey. It was introduced into England in 1762, and is 

 quite hardy here, flowering and fruiting almost throughout the 

 year. 



The cultivation of the Gaultheria is very simple ; it can be 

 propagated by setting the seeds or dividing the roots. In the 

 natural state it spreads very rapidly, new shoots and rootlets 

 starting from every joint of its creeping root, to say nothing of the 

 seeds it drops. The soil it most prefers is a sandy loam mixed 

 with peat or bog-earth, and with plenty of moisture and shade it 

 forms a very handsome plant. 



It has a long, prostrate, very slender stem, with brown scaly 

 bark, sivimr off root fibres below, and above numerous erect 

 branches, 3-6 inches high, naked and glabrous below, downy and 

 crowded with shining, evergreen, oval leaves above. The flowers 

 are drooping, white, of waxy appearance, produced singly from the 

 axils of the leaves ; they are slightly tinged with pink and borne 



