396 THE HEATH FAMILY. 



of blossoming will then have come, and snugly lying on the ground its elfin 

 pink and white face, hidden under the grim and rusty leaves which have 

 lasted over the winter, will smile upon us. On sloping banks that border the 

 woods where the sun warms the ground it sometimes can be found in blow 

 as early as March, but more often we must wait until April before much of 

 a bunch can be gathered. 



Only in its own wooded home will it bloom. We may carry home and 

 place in water sprays of it so far advanced that little glints of white can be 

 seen in the bud's openings, but gradually they will droop and fade instead 

 of blowing out more fully. In New England where it is regarded with 

 much sentiment, having been the first flower to greet the Pilgrim Fathers, it 

 is generally called Mayflower. But the flower celebrated through English 

 literature and history under that name is a hawthorn. 



THE HUCKLEBERRY FAHILY. 



Vacciniacece, 



Including in our species erect or prostrate shrubs {rarely small trees') 

 with simple, alternate leaves and sfnall perfect gamopetalous flowers 

 which are either solitary or clustered. Fruit : a berry or drupe. 



BUCKBERRY. BEAR HUCKLEBERRY. {Plate CXXIX.) 

 Gayliissdcia urshia. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Hucklehciry. Yellow or pinkish Scentless. Mountains of North May ^ June ^ 



■white. and South Carolina. Fruit: July. 



/7(?7£;<?rj-.- growing sparingly in racemes on slender, reddish pedicels. Calyx- 

 tube: rounded, persistent, with five teeth. CtvWAi; / bell-shaped. Sldfncns : ten. 

 Pistil : one. Fruit : a berry-like black drupe without bloom. Leaves : lanceolate- 

 obovate or oblong ; acute at both ends or sometimes rounded at the base; entire ; 

 very thin and covered along the veins with a silky tomentum often appearing 

 rusty. A shrub two to three feet high, branching. 



About the juicy, acrid taste of the buckberry's fruit there seems to be 

 some diversity of opinion. Many regard it as more delicious than that of 

 any other of the genus, having as it was expressed to me, " a real good 

 smack." Again it is thought to be a trifle " puckery." This latter impres- 

 sion, however, usually wears off when once enough of the berries have been 

 eaten. About Highlands in western North Carolina where the plant is very 

 common I found it no hardship to stand in the broiling sun to pick and eat 



