20. CLÈTHRA, Gronov. White Alder.
Calyx of 5 sepals, imbricated in the bud. Corolla of 5 distinct obovate-oblong petals. Stamens 10, often exserted; anthers arrow-shaped, erect in the bud, becoming inverted and opening by basal pores or short slits. Style slender, 3-cleft at the apex. Capsule 3-valved, 3-celled, many-seeded, enclosed in the calyx.—Shrubs or trees, with alternate serrate deciduous leaves, and white flowers in terminal hoary racemes. Bracts deciduous. (Κλήθρα, the ancient Greek name of the Alder, which this genus somewhat resembles in foliage.)
1. C. alnifòlia, L. (Sweet Pepperbush.) Shrub 3–10° high; leaves wedge-obovate, sharply serrate, entire toward the base, prominently straight-veined, smooth, green both sides, racemes upright, panicled; bracts shorter than the flowers; filaments smooth.—Wet copses, Maine to Va., near the coast, and southward. Covered in July and August with handsome fragrant blossoms.
2. C. acuminàta, Michx. A tall shrub or small tree; leaves oval or oblong, pointed, thin, finely serrate (3–7´ long), pale beneath; racemes solitary, drooping; bracts longer than the flowers; filaments and pods hairy.—Woods in the Alleghanies, Va. to Ga. July.
21. CHIMÁPHILA, Pursh. Pipsissewa.
Petals 5, concave, orbicular, widely spreading. Stamens 10; filaments enlarged and hairy in the middle; anthers as in Pyrola, but more or less conspicuously 2-horned. Style very short, inversely conical, nearly immersed in the depressed summit of the globular ovary; stigma broad and orbicular, disk-shaped, the border 5-crenate. Capsule, etc., as in Pyrola, but splitting from the apex downward, the edges of the valves not woolly.—Low, nearly herbaceous plants, with long running underground shoots, and evergreen thick and shining leaves, somewhat whorled or scattered along the short ascending stems; the fragrant (white or purplish) flowers corymbed or umbelled on a terminal peduncle. (Name from χεῖμα, winter, and φιλέω, to love, in allusion to one of the popular names, viz., Wintergreen.)
1. C. umbellàta, Nutt. (Prince's Pine. Pipsissewa.) Leafy, 4–10´ high; leaves wedge-lanceolate, sharply serrate, not spotted; peduncles 4–7-flowered; petals flesh-color; anthers violet.—Dry woods, Nova Scotia to Ga., west to the Pacific. June. (Eu.)
2. C. maculàta, Pursh. (Spotted Wintergreen.) Leaves ovate-lanceolate, obtuse at the base, remotely toothed, the upper surface variegated with white; peduncles 1–5-flowered.—Dry woods, N. Eng. to Ga., west to Minn. and Miss. June, July.—Plant 3–6´ high.
22. MONÈSES, Salisb. One-flowered Pyrola.
Petals 5, widely spreading, orbicular. Filaments awl-shaped, naked; anthers as in Pyrola, but conspicuously 2-horned. Style straight, exserted; stigma large, peltate, with 5 narrow and conspicuous radiating lobes. Valves of the capsule naked. (Flowers occasionally tetramerous.) Scape 1-flowered. Otherwise as Pyrola; intermediate between it and Chimaphila. (Name formed of μόνος, single, and ἧσις, delight, from the pretty solitary flower.)