Root short, white within. Stem solid, one tenth to half an inch high; thick as a crow or goose-quill. Pileus thin, cupped, rather elastic, but brittle; deep carmine colour within, buffy underneath, with mealy granulations.— Withering. THIS is the P. epidendra of Bull and Sowerby. It is one of the most beautiful of the Fungus tribe, and is found, late in the autumn and very early in the spring, on decayed sticks, in woods and damp hedges, putting forth its crimson cups to receive the pelting of many a pitiless storm, while "As yet the trembling year is unconfirmed." E'er lingering winter wings his flight The coming hour, whose mild control Breathe softly now, ye gentle airs! Come ye, to whom her haunts are known, The joy that nature freely gives, Andromeda polifolia. Marsh Cistus. Wild Rosemary. Decandria Monogynia. Calyx with five divisions. Blossom more or less egg-shaped. Mouth five-cleft. Capsules five-celled. Seeds few. Umbel of few flowers, terminating. Blossom nodding. Leaves alternate, strap spear-shaped, edges rolled back.Withering. LINNAEUS NAMING THE ANDROMEDA. THE Swedish sage admires, in yonder bowers, CAMPBELL. |