lS6 ANDROMEDA MARIANA. STAGGER-BUSH, 



on the banks of the Wissahickon, near Philadelphia, the flowers 

 arc not so large nor so abundant, and they often have a pink 

 tinge, which gives them a somewhat faded look. Still, even 

 these Pennsylvania specimens are regarded as very beautiful, 

 although they cannot lay claim to all the perfections of those of 

 New Jersey growth. The plant from which our drawing was 

 made came originally from the last-named state, and has been 

 orowing for some years in the writer's garden, in ordinary, light 

 garden soil. It therefore represents about the average condition 

 in which the collector of wild flowers is likely to find the species, 

 and this is precisely the condition which we prefer for our work. 

 We purposely avoid extraordinarily beautiful or abnormally 

 developed specimens, as the reader might be disappointed in 

 not being able to find anything which equals them in nature. 



The genus Andromeda is, in the main, an American one, and 

 comprises quite a number of species. Of all these, our Andro- 

 meda Mariana has the most beautiful flowers, in this respect 

 rivalling, in size as well as in appearance, some of the famous 

 heaths of the Cape of Good Hope, which are so much sought 

 by cultivators. The habit of the plant, on the contrary, is not 

 very beautiful, and in this particular the species is inferior to 

 others of the same genus. Its growth is erect and sparse, and 

 the leaves are deciduous; and as the flowers open before the 

 leaves and branches are well developed, the whole plant has 

 the appearance of a good task left unfinished. 



The original Linncean genus of Andromeda was divided iato 

 several genera by succeeding botanists, and among them there 

 was one named Pieris, and established by Don. Most of these 

 genera, however, have been abandoned, but some of their 

 names have been retained as sectional names by Dr. Gray, who 

 places our species in the section Picris of the genus Andromeda. 

 Don himself did not notice the relationship of this plant to his 

 genus, but placed it in Lyonia, another genus established by 

 Nuttall, and as Lyonia Mariana it is still referred to by many 

 European writers. In Dr. Gray's works, however, Lyonia is 



