PLANTS GROWING IN RICH OR ROCKY SOIL. 161 



one. Fruit: a light blue berry. Leaves: opposite; oval, pointed; downy 

 underneath. A shrub three to ten feet high, the branches streaked with white 

 or green ; warty. 



Although rather faithful in its love of the woods, where it 

 settles itself by the paths and roadways so as to nod to the 

 passers by, this pretty shrub is not as discriminating as it 

 might be in the matter of soil. To rich or poor, rocky or 

 sandy, it appears to be alike indifferent. From its bark is ex- 

 tracted cornine, a powerful extract that is used for a tonic. It 

 is similar to quinine. 



SOURWOOD. 5ORREL-TREE, (Plate LXXXII) 



Oxydendrum arbor eum. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Heath. White. Sweet ^ like honey. Florida to Mississippi April, May. 



and westward. 



Flvivers : growing in terminal clusters. Calyx: five-parted; pubescent. 

 Corolla: five-toothed ; pubescent. Stamens : ten. Pistil: one. Leaves: alter- 

 nate ; ovate ; pointed ; sour. A tree fifteen to forty feet high. 



It would be a very queer world indeed if we should ever lose 

 our faith in the compensations of Dame Nature ; and yet when 

 we see the O. arboreum covered with its sprays of exquisite 

 bloom, we cannot but wonder about those poor little shrubs 

 that have cared so tenderly for their buds and are after all so 

 very plain. Every good gift, it seems, has been showered upon 

 this lovely tree. It has the sweet fragrance, the delicate 

 beauty of the lily-of-the-valley ; and combined as i-t is in 

 masses, it gives all the strong effect of a bolder bloom. 



The only difficulty is that one is tempted to sit down beside 

 it and never go away. 



MOUNTAIN LAUREL. CALICO=BUSH. SPOONWOOD. 



(Plate LXXXIII.) 



Kdlmia latifblta. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Heath. White or pink Very fragrant. Inland and May \ June, 



deepening into red. middle states. 



Flowers: terminal; axillary; growing in rich umbel-like clusters. Calyx: 

 of five sepals ; clammy and covered with hairs. Corolla : wheel-shaped ; five- 



