Our Labrador tea is a comely shrub, found in the mountains at an elevation of four thousand feet and upward. Its small, leathery leaves are miniature copies of those of the Californian rhododendron, differing from them, however, in the sprinkling of resin-dots upon the under surface.
Upon seeing the flowers of this shrub for the first time, one is apt to imagine it a member of the Rose family, something akin to the cherry, with its clusters of small white flowers of a bitter fragrance; but a glance at the anthers, with their terminal pores, tells the story quickly.
A tea made from the leaves is, with many people, a valued remedy for rheumatism.
This little shrub is much dreaded by sheepmen, who claim that it poisons their flocks. It has been suggested that it would be an excellent thing to have it widely planted as a means of reducing these bands of "hoofed locusts," as Mr. Muir terms them—these marauders who trample down so much beauty, and leave desolation everywhere in their wake.
PIPSISSIWA. PRINCE'S PINE.
Chimaphila Menziesii, Spreng. Heath Family.
Stems.—Six inches high. Leaves.—Six to eighteen lines long; dark green, sometimes variegated with white; leathery. Flowers.—One to three. Calyx.—Five-parted; white. Petals.—Five; waxen-white or pinkish. Stamens.—Ten. Filaments enlarged and hairy in the middle. Anthers two-celled; opening terminally. Ovary.—Five-celled. Style short. Stigma button-like. Hab.—The Middle Sierras and Mendocino County.
The prince's pine is a charming little plant, and may be found beneath the undergrowth in the great coniferous woods of the Sierras, where it sits demurely with bowed head, like some cloistered nun engaged with her own meditations. It has an exquisite perfume, like that of the lily of the valley.
The common prince's pine of the Eastern States—C. umbellata—is more rare with us, though it is found through somewhat the same range as the above. It is a more vigorous plant than the other, has from four to seven purplish flowers in the cluster, while its leaves are never spotted.
In the East, from the leaves of this species is manufactured the drug "chimaphila," which is valued as a tonic and astringent, also as a remedy for cataract.