Family, Crowberry. Color, purple and brown, from the stamens. Leaves, long, needle - like, densely clustered, especially at the ends of the branches. Flowers staminate and pistillate, in terminal heads, surrounded by several scaly bractlets, without calyx and corolla. Stamens, usually 3, with long, purple, tufted filaments and brownish anthers, showy. Style, 3-divided, with,sometimes, toothed stigmas. Fruit,a small dry drupe, inclosing 3 or 4 nutlets. April and May.

A small, curious shrub, from 6 inches to 2 feet high, found in a few places near the coast, bong Island, New Jersey, and

Massachusetts to Newfoundland, where it makes, says Tho-reau, "pretty green mounds. 4 or 5 feet in diameter by 1 foot high - soft, springy beds for the wayfarer."