The leaf is small, round-oval, widest at the base, thin but tough of texture, with a smooth surface that shines when new-grown; the margin is entire, and the midrib important. The young leaves are a bright cool green, lighter underneath; the older growths become dark and bluish green, the ribs and veins marking them with a light tracery. The leaves, on short stems, are arranged in pairs. The corolla, in the shape of a slender tube spreading into 4 points, is covered thickly in the inside with cottony down, while the outside is smooth; the color is creamy-white, the outside delicately tinted creamy-pink. The little green calyx is 4-parted. The flowers bloom in pairs, their seed-boxes united and set on a single stem, placed terminally. The buds are pink. Two kinds of flowers are borne on this plant, in one the 4 stamens protrude from the tube and the pistil does not show, in the other the 2-parted pistil is very noticeable and the stamens are retired. The delicious fragrance of the blossoms perfumes the whole woods where it grows. The small oval berry with its two openings is loved by children, because it is of a light coral-red color, and edible, though rather tasteless. [Illustration: PARTRIDGE-BERRY: Mitchella repens.] *Button-bush.* _Cephalanthus occidentalis._ Found on low, moist ground, and along borders of ponds, in June and July. A shrub from 3 to 5 feet high, with a stout, woody stem, covered with a smooth reddish-brown bark. The leaf, tapering at both ends, is 3 or 4 inches long, on a short foot-stem; the surface is usually smooth, and the texture tough; of a strong green color. The small, tubular flower is 4-parted at the top, and of a dull, white color. Many flowers are set together in a dense, round head, with the pistils radiating in all directions. These sweet-scented flower-balls grow on foot-stems, 2 or 3 inches long, in clusters of 3 to 5 or 7, from the ends of the branches. The Button-balls ripen in October, and are then noticeable among the plentiful pods and berries of the season. They are dull red and green in color, turning to a fine brown with the touch of frost. Picked early in the season they make a pleasing addition to the pod-gatherer’s winter collection. [Illustration: BUTTON-BUSH: Cephalanthus occidentalis.] *Small Bedstraw.* _Galium asprellum._ *Cleavers.* Found in blossom through August and September, in moist or swampy tangles and thickets. The stalk is branching, but very weak-fibred, leaning on sturdier plants for support, or lopping over; it is square, and closely set along the angles with many minute downward-pointing prickles, by means of which it clings or “cleaves” to its neighbors; color, a light green.