786 
alternating with the segments of the corolla: their insertion 
various. Style and stigma undivided. Capsule free, or ad- 
hering to the fleshy calyx, therefore baccate; cells for the 
most part many-seeded. Albumen fleshy. Embryo erect, 
slender. Shrubs variable in habit, scattered over the surface of 
the earth in every direction. 
Among the numerous families which compose the vegetable 
kingdom, few surpass the Ericàceæ in the diversity of their 
forms, beauty of their flowers, or in the extent of their geogra- 
phical distribution, which verges upon the ultimate limits of 
vegetation in both hemispheres. The direction of mountain 
chains, more especially of particular strata, such, for example, 
as siliceous and micaceous deposits, appears to exercise an 
equally important influence on the distribution of this family, 
with the circumstances of latitude and elevation. Species of 
the groups of Andromédee and Vacciniée traverse the Andes 
from one extremity to the other; and in Asia they extend from 
the Frozen Ocean to within the tropics, colonies of them being 
found in almost every branch of the Indian Alps. The simi- 
larity of the vegetation of North America and Central Asia is 
strikingly exemplified in the groups of this family, which are 
peculiar to both regions, such as Rhodoree, Monotropee, Pyrolee, 
Vacciniée, and the aberrant Erzcee. Some species are common to 
both continents, such as Pyrola picta, Monétropa Morisonidna, 
Bryanthus Stelléri, Cassiope tetragona, and Andrómeda polifolia: 
the two last forming likewise part of the European Flora. 
Europe and Africa alone contain the normal Ericee, well cha- 
racterized by their permanent corolla, the maximum of which is 
at the Cape of Good Hope, a spot where so many families of 
plants are found huddled together in strange confusion, as if 
nature had at length deprived herself of sufficient space for their 
equal distribution. The most easterly point to which this last 
group extends is the Mauritius, where the various species of 
Salaxis are found. The maximum of Rhodédree, Vacciniéa, 
Pyròléeæ, and Monotrépee, and the aberrant Ericeæ, is found in 
North America; these tribes are also common to Asia. Van 
Diemen’s Land may be regarded as comprehending the majority 
of the Epacridee. Of all the genera of Ericàceæ, that of 
Gaulthéria is, however, the most extensively diffused, being 
met with in almost every region of America, in New Zealand, 
Van Diemen’s Land, and other places of the South Pacific, and 
in the East Indies. The greater development of the calyx in 
this genus, and its more or less adherence to the ovarium, con- 
siderably lessens the importance of the discriminating character 
of the Vacciniée, and most satisfactorily shows that they consti- 
tute but a group of Hricdcee, rather than a distinct order. As 
happens in other very natural families, the characters of the ge- 
neral groups of Ericdcee are not so strongly marked as in those 
that are less so; but we are not on that account to give up the 
idea of dividing them, and to retain four or five hundred species 
in one genus, as has been done in the case of Erica, which we 
have here attempted to subdivide into a number of minor 
groups; and, whatever opinion may be formed of their title to 
rank as separate genera, the arrangement of the species will we 
trust be found more natural than any hitherto proposed. 
ERICACE. 
Synopsis of the genera. 
Trise I. 
Eríceæ. Anthers 2-celled. Ovarium free. Hypogynous disk 
nectariferous, sometimes, though rarely, ornamented with scales. 
Buds naked. Leaves usually with revolute margins. 
SustrIBE I, Eríceæ Norma‘tes. Normal Ericeæ. Corollas 
permanent. 
1 Erica. Calyx 4-parted, naked at the base. Corolla glo- 
bose or urceolate, with a 4-lobed limb. Stamens inclosed; with 
capillary filaments and bifid anthers; cells of anthers short, 
opening by an oblong hole, awned or crested at the base, 
rarely mutic. Stigma peltate.— Leaves acerose. Pedicels 
scaly. 
2 Gyrsoca’tuis. Calyx 4-parted, glumaceous, naked at the 
base. Corolla campanulate, or short-tubular, with a dilated 4- 
lobed mouth. Stamens exserted, with flattened filaments and 
bipartite anthers; cells of anthers mutic at the base, distinct, 
substipitate, opening by an oblique hole. Stigma simple. 
—Leaves acerose. 
3 Bræ'ria. Calyx 4-parted. Corolla short, tubular, with 
a 4-cleft limb. Stamens 4-6, with linear flattened glabrous 
filaments, and bipartite anthers; cells of anthers attenuated at 
the base, mutic, dehiscing by an oblong foramen at the apex. 
Stigma obtuse.— Leaves whorled. 
rate. 
4 Sympie‘za. Calyx turbinate, compressed, bifid. Corolla 
tubular, with a 2-parted limb, longer than the calyx. Stamens 
4, epipetalous. Anthers bifid, mutic, exserted. Stigma sim- 
ple.—Leaves linear, trigonal, 3 in a whorl. Flowers glome- 
rate. 
Flowers terminal, glome- 
5 Pacny’sa. Calyx deeply 4-parted, coriaceous. Corolla 
nearly globose, coriaceous, with a contracted 4-lobed mouth. 
Stamens inclosed, with dilated filaments, and bifid anthers; cells 
of anthers short, crested at the base, opening by an oblique 
foramen. Stigma obtuse.—Leaves loosely imbricated, com- 
pressed. Pedicels bracteolate. 
6 Crra‘mta. Calyx 4-parted, glumaceous. Corolla urceolate, 
with a 4-lobed limb. Stamens inclosed, with dilated flat fila- 
ments and bifid anthers: cells of anthers short, horned at the 
base. Stigma capitate.—Leaves scattered, bluntish, flat. 
7.De'sm1a. Calyx 4-lobed. Corolla globose, with a con- 
tracted 4-toothed mouth. Stamens exserted, with flat filaments; 
cells of anthers short, opening by an oblong hole, simple at the 
base, and confluent in the filament. 
scattered, subulate. 
8 Euryte'ris. Calyx 4-parted, coriaceous, bibracteolate at 
the base. Corolla tubular, coriaceous, ventricose at the base, 
with an erect 4-parted limb. Stamens inclosed, with dilated 
channelled filaments, and bipartite anthers; cells of anthers €o- 
riaceous, opening by an oblong hole, auricled at the base. 
Stigma clavate.—Leaves scattered. Flowers terminal, solitary- 
9 Evryste’era. Calyx 4-parted, large, glumaceous. Corolla 
Stigma capitate.—Leaves 
