EKICACEyE— HEAIH FAMILY 



LABRADOR TEA 



LcdiDH i^roni.'d/idicinn. Lt\/inn latifbliu})i. 



Lcdiiui is without significance as api)licd to this phint. 



A low, evergreen, unclershrub one to four feet higli, growing in 

 bogs and swamps and cold, damp, wooded glens. Ranges from 

 Greenland to British Columbia and southward to Massachusetts, 

 New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Juices bitter, astrin- 

 gent and narcotic. Root or subterranean stem very large. 



Stems. — Recent shoots densely covered with rusty tomentum. 

 Older branches reddish brown or cojjper-colored ; main stem 

 very dark. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, thick, one to two inches long, 

 one-fourth to one-half an inch wide, oblong, i)ointed or rounded 

 at base, obtuse at apex, margin entire, strongly revolute ; when 

 full grown are pale green, slightly rugose, sparingly dotted 

 with amber dots above, densely covered with soft brown wool 

 beneath. Those growing on branches near the ground are 

 sometimes destitute of tomentum and are flat, short, ellii)tical 

 and scattered, bearing resinous dots beneath. Fragrant when 

 crushed. Petioles short. 



Flowers. — May, June. Perfect, white, three-eighths to one- 

 half an inch broad ; borne in dense terminal umbels one to one 

 and one-half inches across ; pedicels nearly an inch long, recurved 

 in fruit, brown-hairy or tomentose, 1)racted at the base ; bracts 

 deciduous. 



Calyx. — Small, five-toothed, i)ersi stent. 



Corolla. — Petals five, white, nearly or tpiite distinct, oval, ob- 

 tuse, ind)ricate in bud. 



343 



