STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 



flowers, newly-set fruit and the ripe berries all on the same 

 plant. The small round leaves are veined with white, which 

 gives a variegated look to their dark green surface. 



The berries are mealy and insipid but are eaten by the 

 Indian women and children as a dainty. These berries form 

 food for the wood-grouse our Canadian partridge and for 

 the woodchuck and other small quadrupeds that have their 

 haunts in our forests and cedar swamps. The elegant 

 wreaths of dark variegated leaves and scarlet berries are 

 sometimes used by Canadian girls as ornaments for their 

 hair; and I have seen white muslin evening dresses trimmed 

 with the sprays of this pretty evergreen, which had a charm- 

 ing effect, besides showing good taste and economy combined 

 in the fair wearers. 



9 

 HIGH-BUSH CRANBERRY AMERICAN GUELDER-ROSE 



Viburnum Opulus (L.). 



This fine shrub, with its large loose cymes of white 

 flowers, makes a goodly show during the month of June, 

 mingling its snowy blossoms with the surrounding foliage 

 of dark evergreens on the wooded banks of forest streams 

 and along the low shores of inland lakes and islands. Not 

 less attractive is it when the full bunches of oval berries 

 begin to ripen, first turning to amber, then brilliant orange- 

 scarlet, and lastly, when touched by the frosts of autumn, 

 to a transparent crimson. All through the winter you may 

 see the bright ruby fruit upon the bushes, among the snow- 

 clad branches, sometimes encased in crystal ice and magni- 

 fied by the magic touch of hoar-frost. Nor is the fruit of 

 the High-bush Cranberry altogether useless to the Canadian 

 housekeeper; an excellent jelly is often made from the acid 

 juice and pulp of the ripe fruit, when strained from the flat 



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