STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
may be seen among the light feathery mosses, hardly con- 
cealed, for they are barely covered by the mould in which 
they grow. The orange fibrous roots and rootlets are 
intensely bitter, and are much used by the old settlers as 
tonic remedies against weakness in children when brought 
low by fever and ague; more especially is it used as a 
wash for sore ulcerated mouths, as thrush in young infants. 
The Indian women use it for their little ones in case of sore 
mouth and sore gums in teething. I once saw the small 
evergreen leaves of the Gold Thread applied to a very 
different purpose—that of trimming evening dresses of 
clear white muslin—and as the heat of the room had little 
effect on them they looked fresh and singularly ornamental 
on the young ladies who had so tastefully arranged the 
leaves on their simple white dresses. 
I have noticed the term “Gold Thread ” applied lately to 
one of the species of Dodder, that singular parasite, but it 
was by a person apparently unacquainted with our elegant 
little forest evergreen Coptis trifolia. 
BUNCH-BERRY—SQUAW-BERRY—Cornus Canadensis (Lin.). 
This elegant and attractive little plant is met with most 
commonly in beds beneath the shade of evergreens, hem- 
locks and spruces; it multiplies by its creeping rootstock 
as well as by the drupe-like berry. Its popular name in 
the backwoods is the Squaw-berry, and also Bunch-berry. 
It is a truly lovely little plant—a perfect forest gem. 
In height our tiny Dogwood rarely exceeds four or six 
inches; the stem is leafy, the upper leaves forming a whorl 
round the flowers, which are enclosed by the white corolla- 
like involucre; the latter is more conspicuous than the tiny 
terminal umbel of little flowers with their dark anthers. 
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