HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



leaves. Plant stem creeping just under or above the ground. 

 Leaves, alternate, oval, thick, evergreen, slightly toothed, petioled. 

 Open woods. July and August. 



This is the little, well-known plant whose new, tender, red 

 leaves youngsters delight to chew, and whose aromatic ber- 

 ries sometimes find their way to our grocery stores. Often 

 late in the season the waxen flower-bells and ripening fruit 

 are found together. The essence of wintergreen is a pleasant 

 flavoring, in taste resembling birch. Local names are tea- 

 berry and boxberry. (See illustration, p. in.) 



Creeping Snowberry. Moxie Plum. Capillaire 



Chiogenes hispidula (name means "snow offspring," in allusion 

 to the white berries). — Family, Heath. Calyx, 4-parted; 2 large 

 bractlets underneath. Corolla, deeply 4-divided. Stamens, 8. 

 Flowers, small, nodding in leaf-axils on short peduncles. Fruit, 

 a round, white, many-seeded berry, which is slightly acid, of 

 pleasant taste. Leaves, evergreen, pointed, with margins rolled 

 back, ovate, less than J inch long, covered on the under surface 

 with reddish bristles. Branches slender, also bristly. 



The flowers of this pretty, trailing plant are small and shy, 

 hiding in early spring in leafy corners among moss, in peat- 

 bogs of New York and Pennsylvania, in the cool woods of the 

 Adirondacks and Alleghanies. In summer it grows more 

 bold, and flashes up from among its dark green, shining 

 leaves the round, pure white berries. It is a plant fragrant 

 of birch, belonging with moss, fern, and streamlet, thorough- 

 ly wild. 



Pyxie. Flowering Moss 



Pyxidanthera ba.rbula.ta. ("a small box," and "anther," because 

 the anthers open as if by a lid) . — Family, Diapensia. Color, white, 

 or sometimes a pale rose. Sepals and stamens, 5. Corolla, 5- 

 lobed. Flowers, small, sessile, many on short, leafy branches. 

 Leaves, very small, narrowly lance-shaped, like the leaves of 

 moss plants, somewhat hairy. Pine barrens from New Jersey to 

 North Carolina. April and May. 



This moss-like, dear little plant is one of our earliest 

 flowers. It is found in the sandy pines of New Jersey, south 

 to North Carolina, creeping on the ground. Flowers sessile, 

 small, on tiny branches, on which grow the needle-like leaves. 

 Plucked and kept well covered with water, it will retain its 

 freshness many days. It is a great delight to come across 

 the pyxie when yet flowers are few. 



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