Ibeatb Jfamil^. 



Wintergreen. Gaultheria procumbens. 



Found during July in woods, and along the edges of woods. 



The creeping stalk sends up an erect stem, leafy at the top, about 

 4 or 5 inches high, woody-fibred and tough, and smooth to the touch. 

 Its color is green, — red toward the root. 



The leaf is a broad oval, with a rounded tip, an obscurely notched 

 margin, of a tough and thick fibre, and smooth, polished surface. It is 

 evergreen : when old a dark green, often bronzy ; more yellow-green, 

 tinged with dull red, when young. The alternate leaves, on very short 

 stems, are clustered at the top of the stalk. 



The small bell-shaped flower is minutely 5-parted, and all white. 

 The flowers, on short curving stems, grow singly from the angles of the 

 leaves, hanging their bells downward. 



The fruit is round and small, a bright cherry red in color; it ripens 

 in the fall and remains throughout snow-time, always ready to lend its 

 glowing color, with the bronzy leaves that surround it, to a winter 

 bouquet from the woods. The new shoots put forth from the ground 

 in June, and are called " youngsters " in the country ; they have an 

 aromatic, pungent flavor, and going "youngstering" is a favorite diver- 

 sion of childhood. The plant is a great colonist, and year after year 

 its plantations thrive in the same localities. 



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