5i8 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



bloom about Easter tinie great pots of magnificent azalea, blooms 

 to mingle warmth and fire witii the soft, pale, cold, Easter lilies. 

 Maine to Florida, not far from the coast. 



109. Pink Azalea. Pinxter-flower. Swamp-pink 



J?, nitdiflorum has bright, pink flowers appearing very early 

 in April, before the leaves of the shrub are fairly out. This 

 is similar to the white azalea, without the sticky calyx-tube, 

 and less fragrant than li. viscosum. Both fill our swampy 

 woods with beautiful bloom in their season. Upon each 

 appear " May-apples," an edible, pulpy excrescence, formerly 

 supposed to be the work of insects, now admitted to be a 

 legitimate growth, a modified bud. Says Mr. Gibson, in his 

 inimitable way, 



■' The May-apple, which hangs among the clusters of the wild, 

 fragrant, pink swamp-azaleas, has no mission in the world except 

 to melt in the mouth of the eager, thirsty small boy. He knows 

 little and cares less what it really is. He only knows that it 

 beckons him as he passes through the May woods, and its cool, 

 translucent, pale-green pulp is like balm to his thirsty lips. How 

 it makes the corners of my jaws ache with thirsty yearning as I 

 think of it ! and what a pink whiff of the swamp May-blooms its 

 memory brings !" — Sharp Eyes. 



no. Great Laurel. American Rose-bay 



K. mdximum has leaves thick and leathery, with stiff, turned- 

 b.icU margins, evergreen, oblong or broadly elliptical, glossy 

 green (when old, rusty brown), 4 to 8 inches long, on hollow, 

 flattened petioles. Time, July. 



Calyx, 5-parted. Corolla, tubular. Stamens, 10. 



A near relative to the azalea, with great broad bunches of 

 blossoms, white or pink, the petals spotted. Corolla i or 2 inches 

 across. In cultivation the flower becomes very large, and is of 

 white, yellow, pink, and red colors, one of the finest shrubs of our 

 city parks. I have found its large, shiny leaves and showy bios- 



