Heath (Rricacece) 185 



A shrub one to three feet high, each stem divided 

 into several branches ; these, while still entirely leafless, 

 bearing at their ends showy clusters of rosy blossoms. 



I remember the first Rhod6ra I ever saw ; it was 

 growing on a flat bit of land, close by the low bank of 

 the Penobscot a bush on fire, without a sign of green 

 about it. 



" Rhodora ! if the sages ask thee why 

 This charm is wasted on the earth and sky, 

 Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing, 

 Then beauty is its own excuse for being. 

 Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose ! 

 I never thought to ask, I never knew ; 

 But in my simple ignorance suppose 

 The self-same power that brought me there brought you." 



RALPH WALDO EMERSON. 



Lapland Rose Bay. R. Lappdnicum, Wahl. 



Flowers, violet-purple, dotted, about two thirds of an inch 

 across, regular, in terminal, leafy clusters of few blos- 

 soms. Corolla, open, bell-shape. Stamens, five to 

 ten, exserted. June, July. 



Leaves, evergreen, thick, crowded, about one half an inch 

 long and half as wide, elliptical, alternate ; edge 

 entire and revolute. Apex, blunt, roughened above 

 and below with hollowed rusty scales. Branches, 

 dotted, like the leaves, with rusty scales. 



Found, on the high mountain summits of New England 

 and New York, and northward to the Arctic coasts. 



A thickly spreading evergreen shrub six to ten inches 

 in height. 



