WILD FLOWERS pink 



during June and July, in moist soil in swamps 

 or in hillside pastures, from Canada to Georgia. 



TRAILING ARBUTUS. MAYFLOWER. 

 GROUND LAUREL 



Epigaea repens. Heath Family. 



The rarest charm hovers about the Trailing Arbutus 

 which is, perhaps, more intensified throughout the 

 New England States than elsewhere, because of Whit- 

 tier's popular poetic legend regarding this species as 

 the first wild flower to greet the Pilgrims after they had 

 landed at Plymouth Rock, and also because it is said 

 to have been named after their famous ship, the May- 

 flower. Arbutus is sold on the streets of our principal 

 Eastern cities every spring, at so much per bunch, and 

 this practice should be strongly discouraged, since the 

 plant is becoming more restricted in territory and 

 scarcer each year. It has frequently been discussed 

 as a candidate for our national flower, and there is 

 much personal sentiment attached to it. Above all, 

 it is one of the most popular and highly rated of our 

 wild flowers. It thrives best in shady, evergreen 

 woods where the soil is sandy and rocky, and where it 

 spreads its slender, rusty-brown, hairy, branching and 

 leafy stalk from six to fifteen inches in length. It clings 

 closely to the ground under dried leaves, grass and 

 pine needles, and often forms large patches. The 

 thick, leathery, alternating, evergreen leaves are nearly 

 oval, and at their base they are slightly heart-shaped. 

 They are toothless, strongly ribbed, and net-veined, 



73 



