Mitchella
(named after Dr. John Mitchell, of Virginia, an early correspondent of Linnaeus, and an excellent botanist; he died in 1768). ORD. Rubiaceae. A genus comprising a couple of species of glabrous or puberulous creeping herbs, one dispersed through North America, from Mexico to Canada, and the other inhabiting Japan. Flowers white, fragrant, axillary and terminal, ebracteate, small; calyx tube ovoid; limb three to six-toothed, persistent; corolla funnel-shaped; throat bearded; limb three to six-lobed, bearded within, recurved, valvate. Fruit scarlet. Leaves opposite, shortly petiolate, ovate-rotundate; stipules intrapetiolar, minute. M. repens, the species introduced to cultivation, is a pretty little plant for rockeries, hardy ferneries, and such like places. Propagated by division of the roots. M. repens (creeping).* fl. white, tinged with purple, usually two together on the top of each peduncle, fragrant. Summer. l. small, opposite, roundish-ovate, smooth, shining, often variegated with whitish lines. North America, 1761. (L. B. C. 979.)