HEATH FAMILY 



many rough hairs beneath; green on both sides but early 

 becoming brown and wrinkled; acute, obtuse or capped 

 with a thin abrupt tip, at the apex; heart-shaped or rounded 

 at the base; white hairy margins; pinnately net-veined. 



THE FLOWERS: few to several in clusters, very fragrant; 

 corolla tubes somewhat longer than the sepals. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule, seldom found. 



The most confirmed romanticist cannot exaggerate the 

 beauty of the May flowers in Nantucket, for as a " never- 

 ending line" of deep white or even rose pink, "they flash 

 upon that inward eye, which is the bliss of solitude," and 

 then one's "heart with rapture thrills." In very few 

 other places grow in so great a profusion, such large May- 

 flowers, so deep coloured or so sweet-scented! 



One can let one's joy run riot over the beauty and odour 

 of these waxy flower-cups, growing on long, woody 

 branches in the midst of hairy, withered brown or dull 

 green leaves, for parts of the Commons in the spring are 

 covered with sheets of such flowers. 



From this plant is obtained an oil, valuable medicinally. 



ERICACEAE HEATH FAMILY 



Gaultheria procumbens, L. 

 White Spicy Wintergreen, Tea-berry, 



270 



