CROWBERRY FAMILY 



CONRAD'S BROOM CROWBERRY 



Corhna conradii. 



Corema, broom, in allusion to the bushy habit. 



Low, evergreen, much branched, densely leafy ; growing in 

 large patches on rocky or sandy soil. Ranges from Newfound- 

 land to New Jersey, near the coast ; has been reported on the 

 Shawangunk mountains in Ulster County, New York. 



Leaves. — Crowded, narrowly-linear, three-sixteenths to one- 

 fourth of an inch long. Thickened, obtuse, bright green, puberu- 

 lent when young, glabrous when mature. Leaves are jointed to 

 short pulvini, and channelled on the lower side by the meeting 

 of the revolute margins. 



Flowers. — April. May. Dioecious, small, borne in terminal 

 heads. Corolla none. Staminate flowers with three or four 

 long exserted purple stamens with brown anthers, occasionally 

 with a rudimentary or a perfect pistil. The pistillate flowers 

 have a two to five-celled ovary, a slender two to five-cleft style, 

 and are almost concealed by the upper leaves. 



Fruit. — A very small, globose drupe, nearly dry, usually with 

 three nutlets. 



This is one of the rarest of North American shrubs ; 

 as a matter of fact it does not look very much like a 

 shrub, but wanders over the ground as if it were a 

 Christmas-green ; and in the regions where it abides 

 will often densely cover vast sandy stretches. 



The leaf is apparently linear, but what has really 

 happened is that each half of the leaf has turned itself 

 backward until the opposite edges have met, and the 

 channel at the back shows the line of union. The well 

 known Labrador Tea turns the edges of its leaves 

 backward, but they do not meet ; in the Crowberries 

 the edges meet. 



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