SHORTIA GALACIFOLIA, (cover design) 
is the local mystery plant. In 1789 Andre Micheaux 
spent some time in our region and returned to France 
with specimens of it. He wrote that he had found it 
on the ''high mountains of Carolina 7 ' and described 
it as having the "habit of pyrola and the foliage of 
galyx." 
It would have been considered a myth for the 
following hundred years except for the specimens 
preserved. In 1886 Prof. C. S. Sargent did find it — 
in our Sapphire Country. 
To quote Dr. Sondly,"There is no other plant on 
the American continents, in Europe,Africa, Australia, 
or in the South Seas, which belongs to the genus of 
Shortia Galacifolia, or to any related genus. Impera¬ 
tive in its demands, seclusive in its habits, fastidious 
in its substance, choice in its surroundings, restrictive 
in its activities, it has chosen for its nativity and 
residence a single spot on earth. It is, as it has ever 
been, the"Mystery Flower of the Carolina Moun¬ 
tains ." It is listed on page 16. 
