512 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



grounds in a most agreeable manner. The flowers are quite 

 blood-red before they expand, but lyhen full grown the corolla is 

 of a flesh-color. Scarcely any painter's art can so happily imitate 

 the beauty of a fine female complexion. ... As I contemplated it 

 I could not help thinking of Andromeda, as described by the 

 poets. . . . 



"This plant is always fixed on some little turfy hillock in the 

 midst of the swamps, as Andromeda herself was chained to a rock 

 in the sea, which bathed her feet, as the fresh water does the 

 roots of this plant. Dragons and venomous serpents surrounded 

 her, as toads and other reptiles frequent the abode of her vege- 

 table resembler. ... As the distressed vii-gin cast down her blush- 

 ing face through excessive affliction, so does this rosy-colored 

 flower hang its head, growing paler and paler, till it withers away. 

 ... At length comes Perseus, in the shape of summer, dries up 

 the surrounding water, and destroys the monsters." 



Wet, boggy places in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, northward and 

 westward. 



loi. Stagger-bush 



A. Maridna, 2 to 4 feet high, has thin leaves, and flowers 

 nodding in racemose clusters on naked shoots. 



It is a fine shrub, found in low grounds in every direction 

 around New York. It is thought to poison lambs and calves 

 which browse upon its tender leaves. Rhode Island to Florida, 

 in low grounds. 



102 



A. ligustrina is taller, 3 to 10 feet, with flowers similar to 

 the last. Leaves entire, or with a few teeth, inversely egg- 

 shaped. The flowers grow in leafy or naked racemes. 



103. Swamp Leucothoe 



Leucothoe racemosa. — Family, Heath. Color, white. 

 Leaves, lance -shaped to oblong, acute, petioled, minutely 

 toothed. Time, May and June. 



Calyx of 5 nearly separate sepals, attended by white, scaly 



