WILD FLOWERS PINE 
during June and July, in moist soil in swamps 
or in hillside pastures, from Canada to Georgia. 
TRAILING ARBUTUS. MAYFLOWER. 
GROUND LAUREL 
Epigaéa répens. Heath Family. 
The rarest charm hovers about the Trailing Arbutus 
which is, perhaps, more intensified throughout the 
New England States than elsewhere, because of Whit- 
tier’s popular poetic legend regarding this species as 
the first wild flower to greet the Pilgrims after they had 
landed at Plymouth Rock, and also because it is said 
to have been named after their famous ship, the May- 
fiower. Arbutus is sold on the streets of our principal 
Eastern cities every spring, at so much per bunch, and 
this practice should be strongly discouraged, since the 
plant is becoming more restricted in territory and 
scarcer each year. It has frequently been discussed 
as a candidate for our national flower, and there is 
much personal sentiment attached to it. Above all, 
it is one of the most popular and highly rated of our 
wild flowers. It thrives best in shady, evergreen 
woods where the soil is sandy and rocky, and where it 
spreads its slender, rusty-brown, hairy, branching and 
leafy stalk from six to fifteen inches in length. It clings 
closely to the ground under dried leaves, grass and 
pine needles, and often forms large patches. The 
thick, leathery, alternating, evergreen leaves are nearly 
oval, and at their base they are slightly heart-shaped. 
They are toothless, strongly ribbed, and net-veined, 
73 
