HEATH FAMILY 



MAYFLOWER. TRAILING ARBUTUS 



Epigcsa repcns. 



*- 



EpigcEa, upon the earth, in reference to its trailing growth. 



A prostrate or trailing shrub, with short branches and ever- 

 green and reticulated leaves; bristly with rusty hairs. Found 

 in sandy or rocky woods and ranges from Newfoundland to the 

 Northwest Territories and southward to Michigan, Kentucky and 

 Florida. Frequently forms patches. 



Its local distribution is governed largely by the character of 

 the protecting vegetation, and also to a great extent by the soil; 

 thriving best in light sandy or gravelly soil, but sometimes found 

 in clayey earth. But one species beside Epigim rcpcns is known, 

 and that is a native of Japan. 



Leaves. Alternate, thick, evergreen, pinnately veined, one to 

 three inches long, ovate or nearly orbicular, cordate or rounded 

 at base, mostly glabrous above, hairy beneath, green both sides. 

 Petioles short, downy, slender. 



Flowers. April, May. Perfect, or dioecious, pink or white, 

 in axillary clusters at the ends of the branches. Sepals five, 

 oblong, persistent, dry, imbricated; corolla salver-form; limb 

 five-lobed ; stamens ten ; filaments slender ; anthers oblong, 

 awnless, opening lengthwise. Style slender, its apex forming a 

 sort of ring and partly adnate to the five little lobes of the 

 stigma. Capsule depressed-globular, five-lobed, five-celled, many 

 seeded. 



The flowers appear in early spring, exhaling a rich spicy fra- 

 grance ; are dimorphous as to style and stamens, and sub-di- 

 oecious. 



This is the famous Mayflower of Pilgrim devotion, 

 and although by many supposed to be distinctively a 

 New England plant, as a matter of fact ranges from 

 Newfoundland to the borders of Alaska, and from 

 Florida to Minnesota. Probably no one would claim 

 that our Puritan ancestors were especially sensitive to 



392 



