White and Greenish 



flies to another Andromeda blossom, and leaves some of the dust 

 with which he is powdered on the sticky stigma that impedes 

 his entrance, before precipitating a fresh shower as he sips another 

 reward. The straight column-like pistil, stigmatic on its tip only, 

 allows the flower's own pollen to slide harmlessly down its sides. 

 How exquisite are the most minute adjustments of floral mechan- 

 ism ! Is it possible for one to remain an agnostic after the evi- 

 dences even the flowers show us of infinite wisdom and love ? 



Another denizen of swamps and low ground, next of kin to 

 the trailing arbutus, is the Leather-leaf, or Dwarf Cassandra 

 (Chamaedaphne calyculata), a modest little shrub, its stiff, slender 

 branches plentifully set with thick oblong leaves that grow grad- 

 ually smaller the higher they go, and when young are densely 

 covered with minute scurfy scales. Sometimes before the snow 

 has melted in April, the leafy terminal shoots are hung with mul- 

 titudes of little waxy-white, cylindric, typical heath flowers only 

 about a quarter of an inch long, each nodding from a leaf axil, 

 and the whole forming one-sided racemes. But as the shrub 

 ranges from Newfoundland to Georgia, and westward to Illinois, 

 British Columbia, and Alaska, some people find it blooming even 

 in July. 



Mythological names were evidently in high favor among the 

 botanists who labelled the genuses comprising the heath fam- 

 ily: Phyllodoce, the sea-nymph; Cassiope, mother of Andromeda; 

 Leucothoe; Andromeda herself; Pieris, a name sometimes applied 

 to the Muses from their supposed abode at Pieria, Thessaly; and 

 Cassandra, daughter of Priam, the prophetess who was shut up 

 in a mad-house because she prophesied the ruin of Troy these 

 names are as familiar to the student of this group of shrubs to-day 

 as they were to the devout Greeks in the brave days of old. 



Creeping: Wintergreen ; Checkerberry ; Par- 

 tridge-berry; Mountain Tea; Ground Tea, 

 Deer, Box, or Spice Berry 



(Gaultheria procumbens) Heath family 



Flmvcrs White, small, usually solitary, nodding from a leaf axil. 

 Corolla rounded bell-shape, 5-toothed; calyx 5-parted, per- 

 sistent; 10 included stamens, their anther-sacs opening by 

 a pore at the top. Stem : Creeping above or below ground, 

 its branches 2 to 6 in. high. Leaves: Mostly clustered at 

 top of branches; alternate, glossy, leathery, evergreen, much 

 darker above than underneath, oval to oblong, very finely 

 saw-edged; the entire plant aromatic. Fruit: Bright red, 

 mealy, spicy, berry-like ; ripe in October 



237 



