1 1 8 Heath (Ericacece.) [No. 14 



'T is so the quaint old legend seems to-day 

 To drift and ever drift, with murmurs low 

 Of bees, and love-songs of the mating birds, 

 And odors rare, and tinklings bright of rills 

 That ring their silver bells adown the hills. 



But, nay ! It is not legend all and all ; 

 For, as I stoop beside this sheltered nook, 

 Behold, half-hidden 'neath a drift of leaves, 

 The Eden flower ! Coarse-robed it lies, yet fair 

 As when it smiled on Eve in paradise. 



fallen queen ! I will not touch thy bloom ; 



1 leave thee here amid these breaths of spring ; 

 For, exiled queen of Eden's pleasant bowers, 



I deem thee still the queen of spring-time flowers. 



(5) Genus Gaultheria, Kalm. 



From the name of a French physician of Quebec. 



Fig. 58. — Wintergreen. Checkerberry. Boxberry. Tea- 

 Berry. Partridge-Berry. G. proalmbens, L. 



Flower, nodding on slender stems, oftenest solitary. 

 Corolla, cylindrical or urn-shape, five-toothed, the 

 teeth turned back. Calyx, five-cleft, with two bracts 

 at the base, becoming fleshy and berry-like in fruit. 

 Stamens, ten, included, hairy. Anther-cells, each with 

 two slender hairs at the summit. Filaments, white 

 and hairy. Seed-case, five-celled, many-seeded, free 

 from the calyx but finally enclosed by it. Flower- 

 stem, downy, with two small bracts. June to Sep- 

 tember. 



Leaves, evergreen, thick, and shining ; when young of a 

 delicate reddish-brown, simple, alternate, often clus- 

 tered at the top of the upright branchlets ; edges 

 very slightly toothed ; oval or reverse egg-shape, 

 usually pointed at each end ; very spicy and pleasant 

 to the taste. 



