HIS exquisitely scented flower is only found in the shade of the forest, in rich black leaf mould, where, like P. elliptica, it forms considerable beds; it is of evergreen habit. The leaves are of a dark green and smooth surface, clustered at the base of the running root-stalk and sending up from the centre one simple scape, bearing a gracefully nodding flower; each milk-white petal is elegantly scalloped; the stamens, 8 to 10, are set close to the base of the petal; the anthers are of a bright purple amethyst colour; the style straight, with five radiating points at the extremity forming a perfect mural crown in shape: it is of a bright green and much exceeds in length the stamen.
The scent of the flower is very fine, resembling in richness that of the hyacinthe. This species is not common. There is another variety of the single-flowered Pyrola that is of more frequent occurrence in our woods. The flower is of a greenish white, the anthers of a brownish fawn colour, the whole height of the plant scarcely exceeding four or five inches, and the scent is less fragrant than that of the pure white single Pyrola (Moneses uniflora).
Nat. Ord. Rosaceæ.
FLOWERING RASPBERRY.
Rubus Odoratus.
N English gardens our beautiful Red-Flowered, Sweet-Scented Raspberry is deemed worthy of a place in the shrubberies, but in its native country it is passed by because it is not an exotic, and therefore regarded as of little worth.—Like a prophet it has no honour in its own country.—Yet what can be more lovely than its rose-shaped blossoms, from the deep purplish-crimson bud wrapped in its odorous mossy calyx, to the unfolded flower of various shades of deep rose and paler reddish lilac. The flowers of the Red Raspberry derive their pleasant aromatic odour from the closely-set coating of short bristly glandular hairs, each one of which is tipped with a gland of reddish hue, containing a sweet-scented gum, as in the mossy envelope of the moss-rose of the garden. These appendages, seen by the aid of a powerful microscope, are objects of exquisite beauty, more admirable than rubies and diamonds, living gems that fill us with wonder while we gaze into their marvellous parts and glorious colours.
All through the hot months of June, July and August, a succession of flowers are put forth at the ends of the branches and branchlets of our Sweet Raspberry—
“An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds.”
The shrub is from two to five feet in height, branching from the woody perennial root-stock; the leaves are from three to five lobed, the lobes pointed and roughly toothed. The leaves are of a dullish green, varying in size from several inches in length, to mere bracts. The blossoms are often as large as those of the sweet-briar and dog-rose, but when first unfolded more compact and cup like. The fruit consists of many small red grains arranged in the form of an inverted saucer on the receptacle, and is somewhat dry and acid, more tempting to the eye than the palate, but not injurious in any degree. The shrub is more attractive for its flowers than its insipid fruit. We have indeed few that are more ornamental among our native plants than the Rubus Odoratus. Canada cannot boast of the Rhododendrons and Azaleas that adorn the Western and Northern States, but she possesses many attractive shrubs that are but little known, which flourish year after year on the lonely shores of our inland lakes and marshy beaver meadows, Ledums and Kalmias, with many a fair flower that withers unnoticed and uncared for in its solitary native haunts.