HEATH FAMILY 



This exquisite little evergreen is found in company 

 with Andromeda polifolia, and they bloom together. 

 The flower is bright rose lilac, as it comes from the 

 bud, fading later after the fashion of all the kalmias, 

 but always beautiful. The blossoms are similar to 

 those of the well known Mountain Laurel, but the 

 flower cluster is much smaller, containing not more 

 than a dozen flowers ; each with a long slender pedi- 

 cel. In northern Michigan this plant covers acres of 

 swamp land and during the blooming period produces 

 magnificent color effects. 



Transferred to the garden the little Laurel improves 

 in habit, is less straggling, but never becomes a com- 

 pact shrub. It blooms much earlier than either Kal- 

 viia latifolia or Kalniia angustifolia, and is worthy of 

 cultivation for that reason alone. 



MOUNTAIN HEATH. BRYANTHUS 



Phyllodoce coeridea. Brydnthiis taxifolius. 



Bryafithus, from bryo7i, moss, and 

 anthos, flower, because growing 

 among mosses. Phyllodoce, a sea- 

 nymph. 



Low, evergreen, arctic-alpine 

 undershrub, with yew-like leaves; 

 found on the summits of the high- 

 er mountains of Maine and New 

 Hampshire. Leaves alternate, lin- 

 ear, crowded, about a quarter of an 

 inch long. Flowers pink or purplish bells, in nodding 

 terminal umbels. Corolla oblong urn-shaped, five- 



374 



Mountain Heath, Phyllodoce 

 ccerulca. After Britton & 

 Brown. 



