Arbutus
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Arbutus. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
ar'bu-tus, Trailing, a fragrant ground plant of the heath family. The trailing arbutus is to be sought in early spring in sandy or rocky woods under the evergreens. The runners are slightly woody. The whole plant is hairy. The corolla is salver-shaped with a five-parted spreading border. The flowers are apt to be hid in old leaves but their fragrance cannot be overlooked. This hardy little plant is found in favoring localities east of a line drawn from Florida by way of Kentucky, Michigan, and northeastern Minnesota to northwestern Canada. One authority credits Texas with being the home of the plant. A near relative is to be found in Japan. The botanical name, Epigaea, means "on the earth" and is quite appropriate. I wandered lonely where the pine trees made Against the bitter East their barricade, And, guided by the sweet Perfume, I found, within a narrow dell, The trailing spring flower tinted like a shell Amid dry leaves and mosses at my feet.--Whittier, The Trailing Arbutus. 2026 Editor's Note: The trailing arbutus is the 'mayflower' — the flower said to have greeted the Pilgrims their first spring — and is now the state flower of Massachusetts and floral emblem of Nova Scotia. So slow-growing and over-picked that it became scarce, it is legally protected in several states. (Ed: BR 2026-06-25)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a genus of plants belonging to the order of ericaceæ (heath worts). A species, the A. unedo, or austere strawberry tree, is found, apparently wild, in in the neighborhood of the Lakes of Killarney. It has panicles of large, pale greenish-white flowers and red fruit, which, with the evergreen leaves, are especially beautiful in the months of October and November. Trailing arbutus is a creeping or trailing plant (epigza repens) with rose-colored blossoms, found chiefly in New En England in the spring. Commonly called May flower, or sometimes ground laurel.