99 
W W 
SWEET WINTERGREEN. 
All bright, ancl fresh, and glossy, our Wintergreens come forth as 
though they had been perfecting their toilet within the sheltering 
canopy of their snowy chambers, to do honour to the new-born year 
just awakening from her icy sleep. 
P. Elliptica forms extensive beds in the forest, the roots 
creeping with running subterranean shoots which send up clusters of 
evergreen leaves, slightly waved and scalloped at the edges, of a 
deep glossy green and thin in texture. 
The name Pyrola is derived from a fancied likeness in the foliage 
to that of the Pear, but this is not very obvious, nevertheless we will 
not cavil at it, for it is a pretty sounding word, far better than many 
one that has been bestowed upon our showy wild flowers, in com¬ 
pliment to the person that first brought them into notice. 
The pale-greenish white flower of our Pyrola forms a tall terminal 
raceme, the five round petals are hollow; each blossom set on a 
slender pedicle, at the base of which is a small pointed bract; the 
anthers are of a reddish orange colour, the stamens ascending in a 
cluster, while the long style is declined, forming a figure somewhat 
like the letter J. The seed vessel is ribbed berry-shaped, slightly 
flattened and turbinate; when dry, the light chaffy seeds escape 
through valves at the sides. The dry style in this and most of the 
genus remain persistent on the capsule. 
The number 5 prevails in this plant; the calyx is 5 parted; 
petals 5; stamens 10, or twice five; stigma one, but 5 rayed; 5 knobs 
or tubercles at the apex ; seed-vessel 5 celled and 5 valved. The 
flowers are generally from 5 to 10 on the scape. Most of our Pyrolas 
are remarkable for the rich fragrance of their flowers, especially P . 
rotundifdlia , P. elliptica , P. incarnata , and P. minor. 
