394 THE HEATH FAMILY. 



eels all curve upward. As a low shrub it occurs rather generally from 

 Florida northward to Rhode Island. It is one more of the lovely heath 

 family known as a poisonous plant. 



Zenobia cassmefdh'a. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



heath. White ^ Scentless. Florida to North Carolina. May. 



Flowers: growing along the branches in umbel-like clusters. Calyx-lobes : 

 ovate; short; persistent. 6 wW/a.- bell-shaped; five-toothed. Ca/>sule : glohosG, 

 depressed at the top and projecting the style; five-celled, with conspicuous ribs. 

 Leaves: alternate ; oblong, or elliptical; short petioled; pointed or obtuse at the 

 apex; serrate; paler below than above, glabrous, deciduous. A branching shrub 

 three to four feet high ; smooth throughout. 



One long chain of beauty with many diverse links seems to be spread be- 

 fore us by the heath family. From the quaint trailing arbutus to the great 

 rose bay, Rhododendron maximum, there is a forcible contrast, while the 

 fetter-bushes and leucothoes with their waxy urn-shaped flowers are indeed 

 no more beautiful than the larger, bell-shaped ones of the Zenobia which 

 come forth on almost leafless shoots. In swamps or low barrens it grows 

 and was formerly called Andromeda speciosa, it being so very similar to 

 members of that genus. 



DWARF CASSANDRA. LEATHER=LEAF. 



ChaincEddphne calyciildta. 



FAMILY COLOUR ' ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Heath. White. Scentless. Georgia^ ?iorthtuard. April-June. 



Flowers: small, solitary and growing closely in the axils of the upper leaves 

 which form terminal leafy racemes. Calyx : persistent, with five sepals and hav- 

 ing two close bracts at its base. Corolla: cylindrical ; five-toothed. Stamens ; 

 ten. Pistil: one. Capsule; rounded; depressed, five-celled and projecting the 

 style. Leaves: alternate, rather small, oblong, or obovate, bluntly pointed, or 

 rounded at the apex and tapering at the base; entire or obscurely serrate ; thick; 

 scurzy underneath even in age; evergreen. A shrub two to four feet high, branch- 

 ing. 



While stiff and rather small, the dwarf Cassandra is still one of the very 

 pretty inhabitants of luxuriant swamps and moist, shady places. It could, in 

 fact, be nothing else when in wand-like sprays hang little nodding flowers, 

 each guarded by a leaf. In its most southern home they sometimes venture 

 to blow as early as March, but in the far north to where its range extends 

 they often delay until July. 



The name bestowed upon this monotypic genus, from the Greek, signi- 

 fies ground or low Daphne. Indeed, among the heaths there is quite a levee 

 of goddesses and muses. We have the genus Andromeda, named by Lin- 

 nseus in commemoration of the fair maid rescued by Perseus. Another for 



