222 HOME STUDIES IN NATURE. 



Chapter XV. 



IN THE PINES. 



It seems almost like a miracle that in the very heart 

 of civilization, in one of the most healthful regions in 

 the Union, great tracts of fertile land still remain Nat- 

 ure's gardens, where she nourishes the sweet wild-flow- 

 ers in her own mysterious way, refusing to give her 

 secret to her most ardent devotees. Here she has 

 planted flowers not to be met with in any other part 

 of the world. 



First among her treasures is the delicate pyxie (Pyxi- 

 dcmthera harbulata), a little prostrate trailing evergreen, 

 forming dense tufts or masses, and among its small 

 dark green and reddish leaves are thickly scattered the 

 rose-pink bnds and white blossoms. It is strictly a pine- 

 barren plant, and its locality is confined to New Jersey 

 and the Carolinas, yet we may travel over large sections 

 of these States without meeting it ; but when we find 

 its haunts, it is often in such profusion that the ground 

 is thickly carpeted with its delicate sprays. 



The trailing arbutus frequently blends its clusters of 

 pink blossoms and exhales its delicious fragrance with 

 the flowering sprays of pyxie. Nothing can be more 



