VKKMONT SllKUBS AND WoODY VlNKS lYl 



should be provided with them. The flowers are white about one- 

 third of an inch across, forming a rather showy chister at the 

 end of the branch in early summer. The leaves are rich in tannin 

 and possess some narcotic principle. They are used for tanning 

 in Russia. In Labrador a decoction of the leaves is sometimes 

 drunk as a tea, whence the name. It is said, though we cannot 

 vouch for the authority, that it was also so used in the American 

 colonies during the Revolution. 



AZALEA. RHODODENDRON. 



These names suggest our most showy flowering shrubs. 

 There are three species in Vermont, all worth looking for but 

 none common. The flowers of the rhododendrons are very showy, 

 slightly irregular and with the curved stamens extruded. All the 

 native rhododendrons are worthy of culture. This oiTers no dif- 

 ficultv providing that they are planted in moist peaty soil such 

 as abounds naturallv or is easilv prepared. 

 1. Leaves evergreen and large (two by nve inches or more). 



Grer.t rhododendron. 



1. Leaves deciduous and smaller (one by two inches or less) 2 



2. Leaves about one-half as wide as long, petals united for one- 



half their length Into a tube; stamens usually 5. 



Pink azalea. 

 2. Leaves about one-third as wide as long, petals almost distinct; 



stamens 10 Rhodora. 



GREAT RHODODENDRON. Rhododendron maximum L. 



This is known to occur in only a few places in northeastern 

 Vermont, about the shores of Oroton and neighboring ponds. It 

 is there a low spreading plant of three to six feet with the lower 

 branches semi-prostrate. The fully developed leaves are from 

 four to six inches or more in length and one-fourth as wide. 

 They are thick, smooth and leathery, on thick leaf-stalks, ever- 

 green and persistent or several year. The flowers open about 

 Julv I. Thev form in large clusters at the ends of the shoots, 

 are about one and one-half inches across and of somewhat vari- 



