88 



HEATH FAMILY 



parted, ovary superior, style thread-like, stigma small, capitate; fruit a 

 septicidal 5-celled capsule, splitting up from the base. 



A genus of three species. All occur in northern North America, one 

 occurs also in northern Europe and Asia. 



Ledum groenlandicum Oeder 1771 Labrador Tea 



Shrub, '3 dm.-l m. high, stems slender, brittle; bark gray, young twigs 

 brown woolly; leaves evergreen, lanceolate, entire, the edges rolled back- 

 wards, green and finely rugose above, the midrib depressed and finely 

 hairy, other veins scarcely evident, completely covered with long tawny 

 wool beneath, 2-8 cm. long, 5-16 mm. wide, petiole about 2 mm. long, 

 tip rounded, base rounded wedge-shaped; flowers white, borne in a termi- 

 nal umbel-like corymb, enclosed during the previous winter in a large 

 scaly terminal bud ; axis of the cluster and pedicels hairy and glandular, 

 pedicels thread-like, 1.5-2 cm. long, sepals .3 mm. long, petals narrowly 

 ovate, about 5 mm. long, stamens 5-7 ; capsule slender, pointed, about 

 5 mm. long, the style persistent ; seeds thread-like : groenlandicum. 

 of Greenland. 



Greenland to Alaska, south to New Jersey, the region of the Great 



t£6afe££*- 



Ledum 



Kalmia. 



Lakes, and the State of Washington. In Minnesota common in bogs in 

 the northern and northeastern parts of the state, extending very little 



