THE great heath family (EricineÆ) are scattered over many parts of the world, and include a great variety of plants, many like the American laurel (Kalmia) being large shrubs or small trees. Others are much smaller, and among the smallest plants, there is none more beautiful and universally loved than the charming trailing arbutus (EpigÆa repens).

Those who are fortunate enough to live in the localities where it is found have the rare pleasure of searching for the early blossoms, which prefer to nestle cosily at the foot of the evergreen trees, though they are sometimes found in the open.

The late snows may even cover the blooms, but when their delicate heads are peering through, we know that winter has fled, and that the snow mantle is only a cast-off garment which, too, will slip away, dissolved by the long rays of the early spring sunshine.

In New England the trailing arbutus is called May flower, and in other places is known as the ground laurel. Its scientific name (EpigÆa repens) is from two Greek words, epigÆa, meaning "upon the earth," and repens, "trailing, or creeping."

The word arbutus is from the Latin, meaning a tree, and is first applied to another tribe of the same family, and is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable—arbutus. This must not be confounded with the trailing arbutus, where usage allows the accent on the second syllable—arbutus (Standard Dictionary) and whose characteristics are very different.

The trailing arbutus is a native of the eastern portion of North America, but is found as far west as Wisconsin. It grows among the rocks, or in a sandy soil, as in Michigan, and it blossoms from March until May, though April is its chosen month.

The flowers are sometimes pure white though usually beautifully tinged with various shades of pink and red, and though really forming terminal clusters, they are apparently clustered in the axils of the evergreen and leathery leaves.

The leaves may be oval or orbicular, and the stems which are tough and hairy grow to the length of six to fifteen inches.

The fragrance of the flower is very strong and attractive, though its strength varies with its locality and with the character of the soil in which it grows, and it is especially fine when growing under evergreen trees.

The stamens of the flower are interesting to the botanist as they vary greatly, apparently to insure cross-fertilization.

A study of this species, as well as of plant-life in general, teaches us that nature abhors self-fertilization and, as a rule, so develops plants that two individuals of the same species are essential to the production of seed.

This species especially enjoys nature, and is not easily cultivated. A few florists have succeeded in producing mature plants with fair results, but it may be stated that even transplanting, with much soil attached to the roots, to a soil identical with the native, results in a weakened development.

The trailing arbutus is greatly loved by the poet and writer, and has received many tributes from gifted pens.

Donald G. Mitchell, in speaking of the desolation of earliest spring, tells us that "the faint blush of the arbutus, in the midst of the bleak March atmosphere will touch the heart like a hope of heaven, in a field of graves."