218 THE CLETHRA. 



arts of florists. The Button-bush is confined to wet, soli- 

 tary places ; indeed, it may be considered a true aquatic, 

 as it grows in most cases directly out of the water. It is 

 associated with the complaining song of the blackbird, 

 whose nest is often placed in the forks of its branches, 

 and it accompanies the ruder aspects of nature. It is far 

 from being an elegant plant ; and the little beauty it pos- 

 sesses belongs to the perfectly globular shape of its heads 

 of flowers, which are nearly white. It is generally seen 

 bordering the sluggish streams that flow through the 

 level swamps, and often forms little islets of shrubbery 

 in the middle of a sheet of water. 



THE CLETHRA. 



AFTER the flowers of the azalea have faded, we are 

 attracted in like situations by a similar fragrance from the 

 Clethra, or Spiked Alder, remarkable as one of the latest 

 bloomers of the American flowering shrubs. It bears its 

 white flowers in a long spike, or raceme, somewhat like 

 those of the black-cherry tree. The Clethra, when in 

 blossom, is not destitute of elegance, and it is valuable 

 for the lateness of its flowering. The foliage of this 

 plant is homely, and its autumnal tints are yellow, 

 while the prevailing tints of our wild shrubbery are dif- 

 ferent shades of red and purple. It is found in wet and 

 boggy places, where it is very common, displaying its 

 floral clusters as late as the fourth week in August. This 

 shrub, when cut up for brushwood, is called the " Pepper- 

 bush" by the fishermen of our coast, from the resem- 

 blance of its roundish fruit to peppercorns. The pic- 

 turesque attractions of the Clethra are not to be despised, 

 when its long racemes of white flowers are seen project- 

 ing from crowded masses of verdure on the edges of the 

 wooded swamps. 



