86 HEATH FAMILY 



y. Berry white, anthers awnless, opening by 



slits Chiogenes 



b. Ovary wholly inferior, foliage not aromatic 



x. Ovary with ten ovules, fruit drupe-like Gaylussacia 



y. Ovary with many ovules, fruit a many- 

 seeded berry Vaccinium 



Chimaphila Pursh 1814 



(Gr. c h i m a winter, p h i 1 a loving, referring to its evergreen 



habit) 



Low semi-herbaceous under-shrubs ; stems upright from a woody creep- 

 ing root-stock; leaves evergreen, leathery, flowers small in a terminal 

 cluster, sepals 5, persistent in fruit, petals 5, separate, stamens 10, the 

 anthers opening by pores which are basal in the bud but become inverted 

 in the flower, pistil 5-parted, ovary globular, 5-celled, superior, style very 

 short, stigma disk-shaped ; fruit a loculicidal capsule splitting from the 

 top downward; seeds dust-like, very minute. 



Six species of the northern hemisphere. Two others occur in the 

 United States, one eastern, the other far western. 



Chimaphila umbellata (Linne) Nuttall 1818 Pipsissewa 



Low semi-herbaceous shrub, stems 1-3 dm. high; leaves alternate but 

 crowded toward the top of each year's growth, leathery, evergreen, nar- 

 rowly wedge-shaped, sharply serrate, dark green and glossy above, paler 

 beneath, 2-6 cm. long, 8 mm. -2 cm. wide, petioles 3-6 mm. long, tip 

 broadly wedge-shaped or rounded, base narrowly wedge-shaped; flowers 

 in a 2-8 flowered corymb; peduncles bare, 6-10 cm. high, bracts very small, 

 soon deciduous, pedicels about 1 cm. long, flowers bell-shaped, sepals very 

 small, united, petals round, pink, 6-8 mm. long, stamens purplish : 

 umbellata, having umbels. 



Dry woods, widely distributed throughout the cooler parts of the 

 northern hemisphere; in North America occurring across the continent 

 from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, southwards to Georgia, Iowa, and 

 the mountains of Mexico. In Minnesota throughout the forest districts 

 of the northern and eastern parts, most abundant in the evergreen forests 

 of the north ; rare southward, usually in white oak forest. Flowers in 

 July, fruit ripe in late autumn or winter. 



The leaves are used medicinally. 



