in the Vicinity of Boston. 133 



twenty-five miles from Boston, — which is perhaps its northern 

 boundary." — July. 



Menziesm. 

 Menziesia caerulea. Wahl. Purple Menziesia, Mountain Heath. 

 A beautiful, evergreen, branching, alpine shrub, resembling heath 

 in its foliage and flowers. The leaves are scattered, crowded, lin- 

 ear, and toothed ; or not unlike the leaves of the fir tribe. Calyx 

 in five segments, purplish, oblong-linear, obtuse. Corolla purple, 

 bell-shaped, or cylindric-ovate, divided at the mouth into five ear- 

 like segments, their tops being notched. — On the barren summits 

 of the White Mountains. — July. 



Mespihis. 



Mespilus orbutifolia, Pyrus arbutilolia L. Red berried Mes- 

 pilus. A slender, delicate flowering shrub, from two to four feet 

 high. Leaves small, oblong, oval, or inverted egg-formed, minute- 

 ly notched, downy beneath, and having the midrib spotted on the 

 upper side, with small, dark glands. Calyx downy, having five 

 segments. Petals five, roundish, concave. Flowers white, with 

 crimson anthers ; in compound, downy corymbs, or somewhat um- 

 bel-shaped bunches. Fruit scarlet, ten-seeded, sweet and astrin- 

 gent, of the size of large whortleberries. — Low or damp thickets. 

 — May, June. 



Prinos. 



Prinos verticillatus L. Black Alder. A shrub six or eight 

 feet in height, loaded in autumn and winter with bunches of scarlet 

 berries, very showy and beautiful. Leaves oval, sharp at base, 

 short stemmed, hairy beneath, notched on the edge, and having a 

 sudden, long, sharp point. Corollas minute, white, six-parted. 

 Flowers in little tufts, nearly stemless, growing in the shoulders of 

 the leaves. Berries bright scarlet, bitter-sweet, in irregular bunch- 

 es. — Swamps and moist woods. — Brighton. — June, July. A va- 

 riety of this species has its leaves membranaceous, inverted egg- 

 formed, smooth beneath ; and its corolla in but four or five, instead 

 of six divisions. 



Prinos ambiguus Mx. Long-leaved Black Alder. This spe- 

 cies has its leaves more oblong, less sharply notched, and more 

 protracted at the base, than the Prinos verticillatus ; also, its fruit 

 and flowers are not so much in bunches, its bark is paler, and the 

 corollas have but four, instead of six segments or divisions. — 

 Swamps, &c. — Roxbury, Newton. — June, July. 



Hhododendron. 

 Phododendron maximum L. American Rose Bay. A mag- 

 nificent flowering shrub, too much cultivated to require minute de- 

 scription. According to Dr. Torrey, it forms a small tree, ten or 

 fifteen feet high ; but this must be only in localites very favorable. 

 Leaves in tufts at the ends of the branches, evergreen, leathery, 



