142 CAROLINA WREN. 
its clusters of clammy, deliciously fragrant flowers, white or deep rose-colored, grow side 
by side with the flamecolored species. Higher up in the mountains we find the tree 
azalea’, attaining a height of fifteen to twenty feet. The fragrant flowers are white, 
with a rusty tinge. Among these, but more luxuriant in the shady ravines and on the 
borders of the mountain streams, we find the broad-leaved evergreen rhododendrons. 
No description can convey an idea of the clear, cool streams, rushing down to the Atlantic 
or the Gulf, fringed with fragrant clethras’, different species of andromedas, rhododen- 
drons, and kalmias. The gorgeous rhododendrons, particularly, appear in such a revel 
of luxuriance in the mild, moist atmosphere and in the fruitful soil of this region that such 
famous botanists as Bartram and Michaux speak in the highest terms of the same. 
The swamps, the shady mountain-sides, and the deep ravines are covered, likewise, with 
impenetrable thickets or jungles. The plants attain unusual size, the boughs bending to 
the ground and rooting by natural layers, producing the nearest approach our flora 
makes to a tropical jungle. The purple mountain bay’, the rose bay‘, and the 
smaller growing laurel’, all find here a congenial home, forming thick masses of solid 
green. The recently discovered deciduous Rhododendron Vaseyi, a plant of great beauty, 
the rare sorrel-tree®, and the mountain laurel or Kalmia latifolia, a plant of resplendent 
beauty, mingle in charming confusion with sweet calycanthus, whose .chocolate-colored 
flowers fill the air, nay, the ‘“‘senses to repletion with a delicious languor,” as Mrs. J. 
S. R. Thompson, who writes so beautifully of the flowers of her native Southland, 
remarks. The white or silver fringe’, sometimes called by the people of the mountain 
regions “old man’s beard,” has pure white, long, pendant, fringe-like flowers, often form- 
ing clusters six to twelve inches long. The snow-drop, or silver bell-tree*, and the rare 
Stuartia pentagyna grow here with the same vigor as the sassafras, the flowering dog- 
wood and the bead-bush or mountain holly. 
Among the gorgeous azaleas and rhododendrons, we find the only place in 
America where the lily of the valley is indigenous. Our country’s most famous flower, 
the trailing arbutus, flourishes here, side by side with wintergreen®, wake-robins, or tril- 
liums, Parnassia asarifolia, the beautiful and rare shortia, bellworts and terrestrial 
orchids. If we examine closely we find, in some shady nook, the interesting pipsissiwa™ 
and the still more attractive galax", with its round, heart-shaped bright green leaves, 
being in fall and winter often variegated and mottled with bright crimson. — 
Farther down, among the foot-hills and in the lower districts, in rich soil, our 
attention is attracted by different species of deciduous magnolias, such as the cucumber” 
and the umbrella tree*. Here we may also look for the beautiful American holly and 
the Cocculus carolinianus, which climbs over bushes and small trees, often for a distance 
of twenty to thirty feet festooning them with indescribable grace. In winter, when the 
innumerable vermillion-colored berries gleam out among the dark-green spiny leaves of 
the holly, the pale pink, deep glowing scarlet, or, later in winter, the transparent berries 
of the cocculus are most attractive. Another, still more charming, climber is the Carolina 
jasmine™ As soon as the genial February sun begins to warm mother earth, it 
1 Azalea arborescens. % Clethra acuminata, etc. 3 Rhododendron Catawbiense. 1 Rh. maxinum, 6 Rh. punctatum, 
6 Oxydendrum arboreum. 7 Chiononthus Virginica, 8 Halesia tetraptera. » Gaultheria procumbens, 10 Chimaphila 
maculata. 11 Galax aphylla, 12 Magnolia acuminata. 13 M. umbrella, 14 Ilex Opaca, 16 Gelsemium sempervireus, 
