208 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Staggerbush 

 Xeopieris mariana (Linnaeus) Britton 



Plate 155b 



A small, smooth shrub with erect or nearly erect, wandlike branches, 

 1 to 4 feet high. Leaves oval to oblong, smooth above, slightly hairy on 

 the veins and also black-dotted beneath, pointed at the apex and base, the 

 margins entire, \\ to 3 inches long, rather thin, somewhat persistent over 

 winter, but scarcely evergreen. Flowers white or pink, showy, about one- 

 half of an inch long, cylindric, nodding, few or several in lateral umbels 

 or clusters on the almost leafless branches of the preceding season ; segments 

 of the calyx large and long pointed, almost leaflike. Fruit an ovoid- 

 pyramidal capsule, one-eighth or one-sixth of an inch long. 



In sandy fields, thickets and clearings, near the coast from Rhode 

 Island to Florida and west to Tennessee and Arkansas. Flowering in 

 May and June. 



Trailing Arbutus; Mayflower 

 Epigaea re pens Linnaeus 



Plate 133b 



A prostrate, perennial, slightly woody plant, more or less hairy, 

 especially on the new stems and leaves, extensively spreading on the 

 ground and often forming patches of considerable size. Leaves oval or 

 suborbicular, thick, coriaceous, evergreen, blunt or pointed at the apex, 

 rounded or heart-shaped at the base, 1 to 4 inches long, one-half to 2 inches 

 wide, smooth above when mature; petioles short and hairy. Flowers few 

 or several in dense clusters at the ends of the branches, often more or less 

 concealed by the leaves, very fragrant, pink or white, one-half to two- 

 thirds of an inch long. Corolla with a tube expanding at the summit 

 into a five-lobed margin or limb, nearly as broad as the length of the flower 

 and very hairy within. Fruit a fleshy, hairy, slightly five-lobed, almost 

 globular capsule about one-fourth to one-third of an inch in diameter, 



