STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 



for medicinal uses; the bark and twigs (for it is in these 

 the aroma is contained), mingled with tobacco, form one of 

 their luxuries. The spicy, sweet-scented wood long retains 

 its flavor, even when dried, and is most agreeable. The bush 

 is about four or five feet high ; the bark of the older branches 

 is gray and smooth, but the young twigs and leafstalks are 

 blackish. The flowers in this, as in Leatherwood, appear in 

 umbel-like clusters in April, before the foliage is developed; 

 the blossoms are yellow or honey-colored, the leaves entire, 

 very smooth, darkish green, oblong and pale underneath. 

 This shrub belongs to the Laurel tribe, and is nearly allied 

 to the Sassafras. The natives make a fever drink of the 

 twigs, besides chewing and smoking the bark. 



TRAILING ARBUTUS MAYFLOWER Epigcea repens (L.). 



(PLATE XVIII.) 



The fragrant, graceful Epigcea repens, the sweet May- 

 flower of the Northern States and of our own Canada, is 

 too lovely to be forgotten in these short floral biographies; 

 indeed, this pretty trailing evergreen is well deserving of a 

 place amongst the most cherished treasures of the con- 

 servatory, for few exceed it in beauty and none in fragrance. 

 It is to be found within the pine forests, beneath trees where 

 but a scanty herbage flourishes, and on dry, sandy and 

 rocky ground we see its evergreen shining ovate leaves and 

 delicate pink flowers covering the ground during the month 

 of May. The Americans know it by the name of Mayflower, 

 BO called from its season of blossoming; in England it is a 

 favorite greenhouse shrub, under the name of Trailing 

 Arbutus. The leaves rise on long footstalks from the some- 

 what horizontal branches, and are unequal in size, the 

 largest being nearest to the summit; the leafstalks are 

 clothed with clammy reddish-colored hairs, which contain 



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