184 



GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



Scattered through and over these mossy beds were 

 many trailing stems of a slender shrub, bearing ob- 

 long, evergreen leaves about one-third of an inch in 

 length. Very handsome these shrubs were, and 

 interesting too, for on them grows that delicious and 



familiar fruit, the Ameri- 

 can Cranberry, Vaccimum 

 macrocarpon Ait. The ber- 

 ries had been carefully 

 gleaned from the swamp, 

 but here and there the 

 bright cheek of one glist- 

 ened from its bed of green, 

 furnishing a natural con- 

 trast of color which would 

 entrance an artist's eye. 

 At intervals of a few 

 feet among the 

 thickest of the 

 tamaracks were 

 clumps of that 

 curious carniv- 

 orous growth, the 

 side-saddle flow- 

 er or p i t c h e r- 

 plant, Sarracema 

 purpurea~L. The 

 margin of its 

 thick root leaves 

 are united in such a way as to form hollow tubes 

 or "pitchers" with a rounded lid or lip at the top. 

 On the inner surface of this lip are numerous stiff 



Fig. 38 Common Pitcher Plant. 



(One leaf cut across to show the cavity, 

 natural size.) 



(After Bessey.) 

 One-third 



