390 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
Tue Canapa Ruaoporsa. FR. rhodéra. Don. Rhodsra Cana- 
déensis. i. 
An early flowering shrub, from one to three feet high, distin- 
guished for its copper-colored stem and glaucous leaves, and 
clusters of naked flowers coming out before the leaves appear. 
The recent shoots are straight and erect, of a hght brown, some- 
times hairy, enlarging gradually to the extremity. ‘The shoots 
of the preceding year are covered with a porcelain-like cuticle, 
which peels off, and leaves, on the older branches, and irregular, 
crooked stems, a bright, copper-colored, smooth bark. The 
leaves are borne on short footstalks, narrow, lance-shaped or 
oval, acute at each extremity, revolute at the margin, pale green 
or glaucous above, lighter and glaucous and downy beneath. 
The flowers are in little tufts at the end of the branches. 
The stem is very short and somewhat hairy. The calyx is 
very minute. The purple or rose-colored corolla is deeply cleft, 
and seems to consist of two narrow petals, round at the end, 
and one broader, ending in three lobes. ‘The three are slightly 
united at base. Stamens ten, as long as the corolla, with fila- 
ments somewhat hairy below, sustaining short, roundish, purple 
anthers, opening by two terminal pores. Ovary bristly. Style 
purple, longer than the stamens, supporting a large stigma. 
The capsules are half an inch long, divided into five cells by 
valves which open inwards, the partitions being formed by the 
margins of the valves turned inwards. At the time of flower- 
ing, the leaves are just beginning to be visible, covered with 
hairs, pushing from the very small, scaly lcaf-buds. This 
plant, which flowers in April or May, is found in the neighbor- 
hood of Boston, and not unfrequently in wet land in other parts 
of the State. It also occurs in Newfoundland, in Maine, and 
in Connecticut. 
XX. 10. THE AMERICAN LAUREL. KA’OMTA. L. 
A small genus of beautiful, flowering, American plants, named 
by Linneus in honor of Peter Kalm, a favorite pupil, a travel- 
ler and distinguished botanist. The leaves are alternate or in 
