_Epigaea repens_
_Flowers_--Pink, fading to nearly white, very fragrant, about 1/2 in.
across when expanded, few or many in clusters at ends of branches. Calyx
of 5 dry overlapping sepals; corolla salver-shaped, the slender, hairy
tube spreading into 5 equal lobes; 10 stamens; 1 pistil with a
column-like style and a 5-lobed stigma. _Stem:_ Spreading over the
ground (_Epigaea_ = on the earth); woody, the leafy twigs covered with
rusty hairs. _Leaves:_ Alternate, oval, rounded at the base, smooth
above, more or less hairy below, evergreen, weather-worn, on short,
rusty, hairy petioles.
_Preferred Habitat_--Light sandy loam in woods, especially under
evergreen trees, or in mossy, rocky places.
_Flowering Season_--March-May.
_Distribution_--Newfoundland to Florida, west to Kentucky and the
Northwest Territory.
Can words describe the fragrance of the very breath of spring--that
delicious commingling of the perfume of arbutus, the odor of pines, and
the snow-soaked soil just warming into life? Those who know the flower
only as it is sold in the city streets, tied with wet, dirty string
into tight bunches, withered and forlorn, can have little idea of the
joy of finding the pink, pearly blossoms freshly opened among the
withered leaves of oak and chestnut, moss and pine needles in which they
nestle close to the cold earth in the leafless, windy northern forest.
Even in Florida, where broad patches carpet the woods in February, one
misses something of the arbutus’s accustomed charm simply because there
are no slushy remnants of snowdrifts, no reminders of winter hardships
in the vicinity. There can be no glad surprise at finding dainty spring
flowers in a land of perpetual summer. Little wonder that the Pilgrim
Fathers, after the first awful winter on the “stern New England coast,”
loved this early messenger of hope and gladness above the frozen ground
at Plymouth. In an introductory note to his poem “The Mayflowers,”
Whittier states that the name was familiar in England, as the
application of it to the historic vessel shows; but it was applied by
the English, and still is, to the hawthorn. Its use in New England in
connection with the Trailing Arbutus dates from a very early day, some
claiming that the first Pilgrims so used it in affectionate memory of
the vessel and its English flower association.
“Sad Mayflower! watched by winter stars,
And nursed by winter gales,
With petals of the sleeted spars,
And leaves of frozen sails!
“But warmer suns ere long shall bring
To life the frozen sod,
And through dead leaves of hope shall spring
Afresh the flowers of God!”
There is little use trying to coax this shyest of sylvan flowers into
our gardens where other members of its family, rhododendrons, laurels,
and azaleas make themselves delightfully at home. It is wild as a hawk,
an untamable creature that slowly pines to death when brought into
contact with civilization. Greedy street venders, who ruthlessly tear up
the plant by the yard, and others without even the excuse of eking out a
paltry income by its sale, have already exterminated it within a wide
radius of our Eastern cities. How curious that the majority of people
show their appreciation of a flower’s beauty only by selfishly,
ignorantly picking every specimen they can find!
Creeping Wintergreen; Checker-berry; Partridge-berry; Mountain Tea;
Ground Tea, Deer, Box, or Spice Berry
_Gaultheria procumbens_
_Flowers_--White, small, usually solitary, nodding from a leaf axil.
Corolla rounded bell-shape, 5-toothed; calyx 5-parted, persistent; 10
included stamens, their anther-sacs opening by a pore at the top.
_Stem:_ Creeping above or below ground, its branches 2 to 6 in. high.
_Leaves:_ Mostly clustered at top of branches; alternate, glossy,
leathery, evergreen, much darker above than underneath, oval to oblong,
very finely saw-edged; the entire plant aromatic. _Fruit:_ Bright red,
mealy, spicy, berry-like; ripe in October.
_Preferred Habitat_--Cool woods, especially under evergreens.
_Flowering Season_--June-September.
_Distribution_--Newfoundland to Georgia, westward to Michigan and
Manitoba.
“Where cornels arch their cool, dark boughs o’er beds of wintergreen,”
wrote Bryant; yet it is safe to say that nine colonies out of ten of
this hardy little plant are under evergreens, not dogwood trees. Poets
make us feel the _spirit_ of Nature in a wonderful way, but--look out
for their facts!
Omnivorous children who are addicted to birch-chewing prefer these
tender yellow-green leaves tinged with red, when newly put forth in
June--“Youngsters” rural New Englanders call them then. In some sections
a kind of tea is steeped from the leaves, which also furnish the
old-fashioned embrocation, wintergreen oil. Late in the year the glossy
bronze carpet of old leaves dotted over with vivid red “berries” invites
much trampling by hungry birds and beasts, especially deer and bears,
not to mention well-fed humans. Coveys of Bob Whites and packs of grouse
will plunge beneath the snow for fare so delicious as this spicy, mealy
fruit that hangs on the plant till spring, of course for the benefit of
just such colonizing agents as they. Quite a different species,
belonging to another family, bears the true partridge-berry, albeit the
wintergreen shares with it a number of popular names. In a strict sense
neither of these plants produces a berry; for the fruit of the true
Partridge Vine (_Mitchella repens_) is a double drupe, or stone bearer,
each half containing four hard, seed-like nutlets; while the
wintergreen’s so-called berry is merely the calyx grown thick, fleshy,
and gayly colored--only a coating for the five-celled ovary that
contains the minute seeds. Little baskets of wintergreen berries bring
none too high prices in the fancy fruit and grocery shops when we
calculate how many charming plants such unnatural use of them
sacrifices.