86 PLANTS GROWING IN MOIST SOIL. 
eight to sixteen. %sti/: one. Fruit: oblong; two to four-winged. eaves: 
ovate-oblong; toothed ; slightly pubescent underneath. A shrub or small tree 
with soft wood. 
This beautiful tree is one of the very few species that are 
natives of southeastern North America. It is not so chary of 
its snowdrops as those dear little plants that we see about 
country dooryards ; and which tell us so plainly that the spring 
is coming. The blossoms appear in abundance with, or before, 
the leaves and cover the tree with gems of pure beauty. We 
are sometimes so fortunate as to chance upon it in moist 
woods, but more often by the side of some sparkling stream. 
CHOKE-CHERRY. (Pate XL) 
Prunus Virginiana. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Plum. White. Scentless. New England south to Georgia April, May. 
and west to Colorado. ; 
flowers: clustered in short, close racemes. Calyx: tubular; bell-shaped ; 
five-lobed. Corolla: of five tiny petals. Stamens: numerous. istil: one. 
Fruit: a beautiful, bright red berry which turns to dark crimson as the season 
advances. The stone and kernel of the fruit have the flavour of, and contain 
prussic acid. eaves: alternate; oval; pointed; sharply serrate. A tall 
shrub, or small tree with dark, greyish bark. 
The beautiful drooping bunches of fruit that ripen in July or 
August are even more attractive by the side of some running . 
stream than the choke-cherry’s closely packed racemes of 
dainty bloom. One should not, however, be tempted to test 
their beauty by tasting, as the flavour is most astringent. 
MEADOW-SWEET. QUEEN-OF-THE-MEADOWS. 
Spirea salictfolia. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Rose. Pink or white. Scentless. New England southward. June, July and August. 
Flowers: small; clustered in panicles. Calyx: of five cleft sepals. Corolla: 
of five rounded petals. Stamens: very numerous. /~sti/s: five to eight. 
Leaves: alternate ; lanceolate; toothed; veined with a much lighter colour and 
single small leaflets at their bases. Stem: rather smooth; highly coloured. 
The sweet, fleecy daintiness of the meadow-sweet which 
greets us in the low, moist meadows must have been the inspir- 
ation that gave it its common name, as it is unfortunately with- 
