THE 



BOTANIST. 



Vol. I. 



BINGHAMTON, N. Y., FEBRUARY i, 1891. 



No. II. 



THE TRAILING ARBUTUS. 



.) 



BY WILLARD N. CLUTE, BINGHAMTON, N. Y. 



In the Northern States, the trailing arbutus 

 is by great odds the best known of early spring 

 flowers. Its sweet perfume, the delicate beauty 

 of its pink-tinged blossoms, and the hardihood 

 •with which it braves the frost and cold, serve 

 to endear it to the hearts of all. The plant is 

 as modest as the flowers are beautiful and 

 makes no display in blossoming. One often 

 has to scratch away the dead leaves to find it, 

 and if the poet had not a sharp eye he might 

 well say: 



" Oft have I walked these woodland ways 

 Without the blest foreknowing. 



That underneath the withered leaves 

 The fairest flowers were blowing." 



With us, in southern New York, the arbutus 

 is scarcely behind the hepatica in blossoming ; 

 often it is difficult to tell which comes first. Un- 

 less the season is a very cold one, there is sure 

 to be some arbutus in blossom before the third 

 week in April, but it may take a long search to 

 find it. Each little patch has its own time for 

 blossoming, and on some knoll where the con- 

 ditions of heat and moisture are just right, the 

 arbutus will sometimes be in bloom a week be- 

 fore its less fortunate neighbors. 



Arbutus is usually found in deciduous woods 

 but when they are cut down it still lingers in 

 the slashings and half-wild pasture lands till 

 disturbed by the plow. Like the hepatica, it 

 forms its flower-buds in the autumn, and all 

 winter they rest safely beneath the snow. The 

 plant is shrubby and consists of many short 

 branches spreading flat on the ground. The 

 leaves, which remain green through the winter, 

 are roundish-oval, slightly heart-shaped at base. 



and tipped with a tiny spine. 



The blossoms grow in clusters at the end of 

 the branches, and, at a season when all flowers 

 are scarce and few are fragrant, these tubular 

 blossoms of white or pink are highly prized. 

 Everyone who goes afield brings home great 

 bunches of them and the woods are ransacked 

 for the last spray. As no flowers are left to 

 produce seed, there is danger that this practice 

 may gradually exterminate the plant. Already, 

 it has dissapeared entirely from some places and 

 is becoming rare in others. 



The arbutus is a heath and belongs to the 

 large and interesting family of heathworts. It 

 is related to the heather of Great Britain and to 

 many plants in this country with which we are 

 familiar, such as the azalias, laurels, cranberries, 

 wintergreens, indian pipes, blue-berries etc. 



Although the arbutus belongs to a berry- 

 bearing family, its fruit is a many-seeded, five- 

 celled capsule, which, when ripe, opens by five 

 valves. It is quite probable that but very few 

 persons have seen this seed-vessel, partly because 

 of its rarity, and partly because the plant is so 

 unobtrusive that as soon as the season of blos- 

 soming is over it is forgotten. 



As is\isual with common plants, the arbutus 

 is known by several names. In the Eastern 

 States it is called ground laurel and May-flower, 

 the latter name often being applied to it in other 

 localities. The name arbutus, which is used 

 everywhere, is usually corrupted into "arbeauties" 

 by illiterate people. 



This plant is rather limited in its range, being 

 an inhabitant of an area, that, according to the 

 botanies, extends from Newfoundland to Ken- 

 tucky and Pennsylvania. But it is not found in 

 every wood within these boundaries; in many of 

 the mountainous parts of Pennsylvania it it un- 

 known. The plant seems to be a bit choice in 



