598 FLORA. 



Family i. EMPETRACEAE Dumort. 

 Crowberry Family. 



Low evergreen shrubs, with small narrow nearly sessile exstipulate 

 leaves jointed to short pulvini, channeled on the lower side by the revo- 

 lute margins, and small dioecious, monoecious, or rarely polygamous 

 flowers. Calyx of 3 sepals. Corolla of 2 or 3 petals, or none. Staminate 

 flowers with 2-4 stamens, the filaments filiform, the anthers 2-celled, 

 longitudinally dehiscent, sometimes with a rudimentary pistil. Pistillate 

 flowers with a 2-several-celled sessile ovary, the single style cleft into as 

 many stigma-bearing segments as there are ovary-cavities ; ovules i 

 in each cavity, amphitropous. Fruit a berry-like drupe, containing 

 2-several i-seeded nutlets. Embryo straight, terete, in copious endo- 

 sperm. Three known genera, the following, and the monotypic Ceratisla 

 of the southeastern U. S. 



Flowers axillary; petals 3. i. Empetrum. 



Flowers in terminal heads; petals none. 2. Corema. 



1. EMPETRUM L. 



Depressed or spreading herbaceous shrubs, the branches usually densely leafy, 

 the leaves linear-oblong. Flowers inconspicuous, solitary in the upper axils. 

 Sepals and petals mostly 3. Staminate flowers with 3 stamens, the anthers introrse. 

 Pistillate flowers with a globose 6-9-celled ovary, and a short thick style with 

 6-9-toothed segments. Drupe black, or red, containing 6-9 nutlets. [Greek, on 

 rocks, referring to the growth of these plants in rocky places.] Two known species, 

 the following, and C. rubrum of southern S. Am. 



i. Empetrum nigrum L. BLACK CROWBERRY. HEATHBERRY. (I. F. f. 

 2343.) Glabrous, or the young shoots pubescent, the branches diffusely spreading, 

 5-25 cm. long. Leaves dark green, thick, obtuse, 4-7 mm. long, about i mm. 

 wide, the revolute margins roughish; flowers very small, purplish; stamens exserted; 

 drupe black (red in an arctic form), 4-6 mm. in diameter. In rocky places, Green- 

 land to Alaska, Me., N. Y., Mich, and Cal. Also in Europe and Asia. Summer. 



2. COREMA Don. 



Low, much -branched shrubs, with narrowly linear leaves crowded on the 

 branches, and small dioecious or polygamous flowers in terminal heads. Corolla 

 none. Staminate flowers with 3 or sometimes 4 long-exserted stamens, occasionally 

 with a rudimentary or perfect pistil. Pistillate flowers with a 2-5 -celled (mostly 

 3-celled) ovary and a slender 2 -5 -cleft style, the stigmatic branches very slender, 

 sometimes toothed. Drupe globose, usually with 3 nutlets. [Greek, a broom, in 

 allusion to the bushy habit.] Two species, the following of the eastern U. S., the 

 other of southwestern Europe, the Azores and Canaries. 



i. Corema Conradii Torr. CONRAD'S BROOM CROWBERRY. (I. F. f. 2344.) 

 Much branched, 1.5-6 dm. high, the young twigs puberulent and densely leafy, 

 the branches minutely scarred by the persistent pulvini. Leaves 4-6 mm. long, 

 rather less than I mm. wide, obtuse, glabrous when mature; flowers numerous 

 in the terminal sessile heads, the pistillate ones almost concealed by the upper 

 leaves, the Staminate conspicuous by the exserted purple stamens; drupes nearly 

 dry, less than 2 mm. in diameter. In rocky or sandy soil, Newf. to N. J., mostly 

 near the coast, but occurring in one station on the Shawangunk Mountains in Ulster 

 Co., N. Y. April-May. 



Family 2. BUXACEAE Dumort. 

 Box Family. 



Monoecious or dioecious trees, shrubs or perennial herbs, with simple 

 mostly evergreen leaves, the sap not milky. Flowers regular, bracted. 

 Petals none. Staminate flowers with 4-7 distinct stamens, the anthers 

 2-celled ; sometimes with a rudimentary pistil. Pistillate flowers with a 



