62 WHITE TO GREEN 



BUNCH-BERRY 



Corniis Canadensis. Dogwood Family 



Stems, erect. Leaves: verticillate at the summit of the stem, sessile, 

 oval, pinnately veined, acute at each end, entire ; bracts involucral, 

 white. Flowers: greenish, capitate. Fruit: red, globose. 



A slender tough stem bearing a circle of four or five oval, 

 pointed leaves at its summit, out of the midst of which grows 

 a cluster of inconspicuous tiny green flowers, surrounded by 

 four beautiful white bracts, — such is the Bunch-berry, or 

 Pigeon-berry, which we find everywhere in the forests. It 

 will surprise many travellers to learn that the lovely white 

 leaves are not the petals, but only the bracts encircling the 

 wee green flowers in the centre. 



When these white bracts have fallen off, each flower-head 

 develops into a bunch of small scarlet berries, from which the 

 species derives its common name. 



NORTHERN BEDSTRAW 



Galium boreale. Madder Family 



Stems: smooth, branched, leafy. Leaves: in fours, linear, acute. Flowers: 

 in terminal panicles, dense, many-flowered in small compact cymes. 

 Fruit: hispid. 



The Northern Bedstraw may be distinguished by the fact 

 that its tiny narrow leaves grow in circles of four round the 

 stems. It is a plant bearing many small white flowers in 

 clusters, and the seeds are twin burs, covered with numerous 

 hooked bristles, by means of which they cling to the clothing 

 of the passer-by and the fur of animals. 



Sir John Franklin in his book TJie Polar Seas describes 

 this plant as being used by the Indians as a vegetable dye. 

 They call it Sawoyan, and after boiling the roots they mix 

 the liquid with the juice of strawberries and cranberries, 

 and thus obtain a beautiful scarlet dye. 



