NATURE STUDY. 
PUBIJSHKD UNDER THE AUS1’ICE.S OF THE 
Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences. 
VoL. V. 1904 . No. 2 . 
Mayflower Seeds. 
BY EDWARD J. BURNHAM. 
People living elsewhere than along the Atlantic coast, 
from New Phigland to Penns 3 d\;ania, and, rarely, somewhat 
farther southward, can form onl}’ a vague idea of the fas¬ 
cination which the “ Maj^flower ” has for those who asso¬ 
ciate it with the earliest recollections of childhood. 
The Pilgrims found its trailing stem, heart-.shaped leaves 
and fragrant, rose-colored blossoms in the springtime after 
that first terrible winter at Plymouth. They rejoiced at 
the di.scovery, and all who have come after them have 
taken a peculiar delight in the fragrance and beaut}^ of the 
modest blossoms hiding beneath the leaves. Linnaeus 
named this trailing plant Rpif^acE I'cpcns, but to the New 
Englander it has always been the Mayflower. 
But, well known and eagerly sought for as the Ma}^- 
flower is, alnio.st to its extinction as population increases, 
comparatively lew people, even where it is most common, 
have ever seen its fruit, or .seed capsules. This was strik- 
