Part 18

In the Scotch Highlands it is called the “plant of gluttony,” on account of its supposed power of increasing the appetite. It is said to form part of the winter food of the Esquimaux.

PLATE XIV

Fruit.

BUNCH-BERRY.—C. Canadensis. ]

SWEET BAY. LAUREL MAGNOLIA. Magnolia glauca. Magnolia Family.

A shrub from four to twenty feet high. Leaves.—Oval to broadly lance-shaped, from three to six inches long. Flowers.—White, two inches long, growing singly at the ends of the branches. Calyx.—Of three sepals. Corolla.—Globular, with from six to nine broad petals. Stamens.—Numerous, with short filaments and long anthers. Pistils.—Many, packed so as to make a sort of cone in fruit. Fruit.—Cone-like, red, fleshy when ripe; the pistils opening at maturity and releasing the scarlet seeds which hang by delicate threads.

The beautiful fragrant blossoms of the sweet bay may be found from June till August, in swamps along the coast from Cape Ann southward.

LIZARD’S TAIL. Saururus cernuus. Pepper Family.

Stem.—Jointed, often tall. Leaves.—Alternate, heart-shaped. Flowers.—White, without calyx or corolla, crowded into a slender, wand-like terminal spike which nods at the end. Stamens.—Usually six or seven. Pistils.—Three or four, united at their base.

The nodding, fragrant spikes of the lizard’s tail abound in certain swamps from June till August. While the plant is not a common one, it is occasionally found in great profusion, and is sure to arrest attention by its odd appearance.

MOONSEED. Menispermum Canadense. Moonseed Family.

Stem.—Woody, climbing. Leaves.—Three to seven-angled or lobed, their stalks fastened near the edge of the lower surface. Flowers.—White or yellowish, in small loose clusters, unisexual. Calyx.—Of four to eight sepals. Corolla.—Of six to eight short petals. Stamens and Pistils.—Occurring on different plants. Fruit.—Berry-like, black, with a bloom.

Clambering over the thickets which line the streams, we notice in September the lobed or angled leaves and black berries of the moonseed, the small white or yellowish flowers of which were, perhaps, overlooked in June.

MOUNTAIN LAUREL. SPOONWOOD. CALICO-BUSH. Kalmia latifolia. Heath Family.

An evergreen shrub. Leaves.—Oblong, pointed, shining, of a leathery texture. Flowers.—White or pink, in terminal clusters. Calyx.—Five-parted. Corolla.—Marked with red, wheel-shaped, five-lobed, with ten depressions. Stamens.—Ten, each anther lodged in one of the depressions of the corolla. Pistil.—One.

The shining green leaves which surround the white or rose-colored flowers of the mountain laurel are familiar to all who have skirted the west shore of the Hudson River, wandered across the hills that lie in its vicinity, or clambered across the mountains of Pennsylvania, where the shrub sometimes grows to a height of thirty feet. Not that these localities limit its range: for it abounds more or less from Canada to Florida, and far inland, especially along the mountains, whose sides are often clothed with an apparent mantle of pink snow during the month of June, and whose waste places are, in very truth, made to blossom like the rose at this season.

The shrub is highly prized and carefully cultivated in England. Barewood Gardens, the beautiful home of the editor of the London Times, is celebrated for its fine specimens of mountain laurel and American rhododendron. The English papers advertise the approach of the flowering season, the estate is thrown open to the public, and the people for miles around flock to see the radiant strangers from across the water. The shrub is not known there as the laurel, but by its generic title, Kalmia. The head gardener of the place received with some incredulity my statement that in parts of America the waste hill-sides were brilliant with its beauty every June.

The ingenious contrivance of these flowers to secure cross-fertilization is most interesting. The long filaments of the stamens are arched by each anther being caught in a little pouch of the corolla; the disturbance caused by the sudden alighting of an insect on the blossom, or the quick brush of a bee’s wing, dislodges the anthers from their niches, and the stamens spring upward with such violence that the pollen is jerked from its hiding-place in the pore of the anther-cell on to the body of the insect-visitor, who straightway carries it off to another flower upon whose protruding stigma it is sure to be inadvertently deposited. In order to see the working of this for one’s self, it is only necessary to pick a fresh blossom and either brush the corolla quickly with one’s finger, or touch the stamens suddenly with a pin, when the anthers will be dislodged and the pollen will be seen to fly.

This is not the laurel of the ancients—the symbol of victory and fame—notwithstanding some resemblance in the form of the leaves. The classic shrub is supposed to be identical with the Laurus nobilis which was carried to our country by the early colonists, but which did not thrive in its new environment.

The leaves of our species are supposed to possess poisonous qualities, and are said to have been used by the Indians for suicidal purposes. There is also a popular belief that the flesh of a partridge which has fed upon its fruit becomes poisonous. The clammy exudation about the flower-stalks and blossoms may serve the purpose of excluding from the flower such small insects as would otherwise crawl up to it, dislodge the stamens, scatter the pollen, and yet be unable to carry it to its proper destination on the pistil of another flower.

The Kalmia was named by Linnæus after Peter Kalm, one of his pupils who travelled in this country, who was, perhaps, the first to make known the shrub to his great master.

The popular name spoonwood grew from its use by the Indians for making eating-utensils. The wood is of fine grain and takes a good polish.

The title calico-bush probably arose from the marking of the corolla, which, to an imaginative mind, might suggest the cheap cotton-prints sold in the shops.

WHITE SWAMP HONEYSUCKLE. CLAMMY AZALEA. Rhododendron viscosum. Heath Family.

A shrub from three to ten feet high. Leaves.—Oblong. Flowers.—White, clustered, appearing after the leaves. Calyx-lobes.—Minute. Corolla.—White, five-lobed, the clammy tube much longer than the lobes. Stamens.—Usually five, protruding. Pistil.—One, protruding.

PLATE XV

MOUNTAIN LAUREL.—K. latifolia. ]

The fragrant white flowers of this beautiful shrub appear in early summer along the swamps which skirt the coast, and occasionally farther inland. The close family resemblance to the pink azalea (Pl. LXV.) will be at once detected. On the branches of both species will be found those abnormal, fleshy growths, called variously “swamp apples” and “May apples,” which are so relished by the children. Formerly these growths were attributed to the sting of an insect, as in the “oak apple;” now they are generally believed to be modified buds.