THE TEAILING AEBUTUS 



(EPIGEA REPENS.) 



COMMON NAMES: TRAILING ARBU- 

 TUS, GROUND LAUREL, MAYFLOWER 



MRS. A. GILCHRIST 



TORONTO JUNCTION 



This many-named plant belongs to the 

 royal order of plants Ericaceae, or true 

 Heath family. It is found on sandy soil, 

 especially in the shade of pines, and is 

 common with us near Toronto, but in 

 many parts of the country it is quite un- 

 known. 



There are but two species, our own 

 Epigea Repens, and one in Japan called 

 Asiatica, not yet in cultivation. In New 

 England it is the most popular of all the 

 native flowers, and is known as the May 

 flower, while the Mayflower of English 

 history and literature is the Hawthorn. 

 Then many people give the Hepatica the 

 name Mayflower; indeed, if you go into 

 one hundred schools in our province and 

 ask the boys and girls what is the first 

 native flower they may expect to find in 

 the spring, ninety-nine will tell you that it 

 is the Mayflower, by which they mean the 

 Hepatica. No one more dearly loves our 

 common English or local names than I 

 do, but sometimes local names are most 

 conflicting, and in teaching the young it 

 is just as easy for them to know the plants 

 and flowers by their proper names, for the 

 common name often means a different 

 plant altogether. But I am wandering 

 away from our sweet, wee Arbutus, a 

 flower which is worthy of a place in every 

 garden. It has been called one of the 



most exquisite of nature's fondlings, a 

 gem worthy of a rare setting. The reader 

 will have little difficulty in locating it, even 

 if it may be covered with leaves, for its per- 

 fume is of such a sweet peculiar fragrance. 

 Its leaves are evergreen, glossy above ; if 

 the winter has been severe you will some- 

 times find the leaves injured and of a russet 

 brown color. The flowers are of two 

 kinds; the female flower being large and 

 white, while the male flower is smaller and 

 pink or somewhat rosy in color. The 

 question is often asked, Can the Arbutus 

 be cultivated in the garden? Certainly, 

 if properly lifted and cared for, but is like 

 all the rest of its family, a little difficult to 

 transplant. Try and secure small, young 

 plants, lift them with a good ball of earth, 

 be careful not to injure the roots, replant 

 in a shaded position, protect in winter with 

 leaves, as nature does, and you may ex- 

 pect to succeed. But, like the thrush, it 

 belongs to the woods by inheritance. We 

 quite frequently find it in bloom before 

 the first of May, it depends on the season. 

 In going through the woods I find the 

 buds showing now, the first week in April, 

 yet they may not be fully developed for 

 some time. In the words of Longfellow : 



" And with childlike credulous affection 

 We behold the tender buds expand, 

 Eablenis of our own great resurrection. 

 Emblems of the bright and better land." 



i 



