86 PLANTS GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 



eight to sixteen. Pistil: one. Fruit: oblong; two to four-winged. Leaves: 

 ovate-oblong ; toothed ; slightly pubescent underneath. A shrub or small tree 

 with soft wood. 



This beautiful tree is one of the very few species that are 

 natives of southeastern North America. It is not so chary of 

 its snowdrops as those dear little plants that we see about 

 country dooryards ; and which tell us so plainly that the spring 

 is coming. The blossoms appear in abundance with, or before, 

 the leaves and cover the tree with gems of pure beauty. We 

 are sometimes so fortunate as to chance upon it in moist 

 woods, but more often by the side of some sparkling stream. 



CHOKE-CHERRY. (Plate XLI.) 

 Primus Virginiana. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Plum. White. Scentless. New England south to Georgia April, May. 



and west to Colorado. 



Flowers: clustered in short, close racemes. Calyx,: tubular; bell-shaped; 

 five-lobed. Corolla : of five tiny petals. Stamens : numerous. Pistil : one. 

 Fruit: a beautiful, bright red berry which turns to dark crimson as the season 

 advances. The stone and kernel of the fruit have the flavour of, and contain 

 prussic acid. Leaves: alternate; oval; pointed; sharply serrate. A tall 

 shrub, or small tree with dark, greyish bark. 



The beautiful drooping bunches of fruit that ripen in July or 

 August are even more attractive by the side of some running 

 stream than the choke-cherry's closely packed racemes of 

 dainty bloom. One should not, however, be tempted to test 

 their beauty by tasting, as the flavour is most astringent. 



MEADOW-SWEET. QUEEN=OF=THE=MEADOWS. 



Spircea salicifblia. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Rose. Pink or white. Scentless. New England southward. June^ July and August. 



Flowers: small; clustered in panicles. Calyx: of five cleft sepals. Corolla: 

 of five rounded petals. Stamens: very numerous. Pistils: five to eight. 

 Leaves: alternate; lanceolate; toothed; veined with a much lighter colour and 

 single small leaflets at ttieir bases. Stem : rather smooth ; highly coloured. 



The sweet, fleecy daintiness of the meadow-sweet which 

 greets us in the low, moist meadows must have been the inspir- 

 ation that gave it its common name, as it is unfortunately with- 



