165 CHIMAPHILA CORYMBOSA 



the cavity between the ovaries ; stigma large, convex, faintly 5- 

 lobed. Fruit a 5-celled globular capsule on an erect stalk, with 

 thin pericarp dehiscing loculicidally. Seeds minute, very 

 numerous, with a loose transparent cellular coat. 



Habitat. This pretty plant is not uncommon in dry woods 

 throughout the north of Europe, reaching southward to Switzerland 

 and South Germany, but more abundant in Scandinavia and Russia 

 and extending into Siberia. It does not occur in Britain or 

 Western Europe. In North America it is common, extending 

 from Northern Canada to N. Carolina. It does not seem to be now 

 in cultivation in our botanic gardens, but was formerly to be met 

 with, having been introduced at Kew so far back as 1762. The 

 main characters distinguishing Chimaphila from Pyrola are the 

 dilated base of the filaments and the absence of any connecting 

 web between the valves of the capsule, points hardly sufficient 

 perhaps to warrant a generic separation. 



DC. Prod., vii, p. 775; Hook., Fl. Bor. Am., ii, p. 49; A. Gray, 

 Fl. U. States, p. 303; Chapman, Fl. South. States, p. 267; 

 Lindl., Fl. Med., p. 375. 



Official Part and Names. CHIMAPHILA, Pipsissewa ; the leaves 

 (U. S. P.). Not official in the British Pharmacopoeia, or the 

 Pharmacopoeia of India. 



General Characters and Composition. These leaves are some- 

 what lanceolate in outline, but broadest at their apex, and wedge- 

 shaped at the base ; and have a uniform shining green colour. 

 These characters will distinguish them from the leaves of an allied 

 species Chimaphila maculata } or Spotted Winter Green, which 

 are similar in outline, but rounded at the base and broader at 

 that point than at their summit, and have a deep olive- green 

 colour with greenish-white veins. When fresh and bruised they 

 have a peculiar odour, but this is lost when they are dried, as in 

 those of commerce ; their taste is pleasantly bitter, astringent, 

 and sweetish. Their infusion is rendered green by a solution of 

 the perchloride of iron. 



The leaves are alone official in the Pharmacopoeia of the United 



