FAMILIES OF FLOWEKING PLANTS 209 



The cranberry belongs to the genus Oxycoccus, and the cranberry- 

 industry is an important one on Cape Cod and in parts of New Jersey. 

 Besides the cranberry of commerce we have one or two wild species. 

 The checkerberry or true wintergreen (Gaultheria) produces a fruit that 

 appears to be a true berry, but in reahty the fleshy part consists of the 

 enlarged fruiting calj^x, enveloping the ovary. 



It should be stated that many of the heaths contain toxic alkaloids, 

 rendering their herbage poisonous to stock ; and it is on this account 

 that the narrow-leaved laurel of our northern States {Kalmia angus- 

 ^^/bZ^a) is known as "sheepkill" or "lambkill." 



Family Epacridaceae. Australian Heath Family. This group, 

 which is almost exclusively confined to Australia, contains about 32 

 genera and 350 species, all shrubs or undershrubs of heath-like aspect 

 and entirely replacing the Ericaceae in that region. They differ from 

 the latter in the uniformly 5-parted corolla, the 1-celled anthers without 

 appendages of any sort, and in the attachment of the corolla. Several 

 genera, notably Epacris, Lencopogon and StypheUa, are sometimes culti- 

 vated in greenhouses. Some yield edible berries. 



Family Diapensiaceae. Diapensia Family. Includes 6 genera, most 

 of which are monotypic, all being natives of the northern hemisphere. 

 They are low shrubs or scapose herbs, with white, pink or purple 

 flowers and simple leaves. The calyx or corolla have their parts in 

 fives ; the stamens also are 5, borne on the throat of the corolla. Ovary 

 3-celled, becoming a 3-valved capsule. Nearly all the genera of this 

 family are interesting on account of their remote or local distribution. 

 Thus Diapensla is found around the Arctic circle and on the higher 

 mountains of northern New England ; it is a tufted undershrub with 

 solitary white or pink flowers. Pyxidantliera or "pyxie," a monotypic 

 genus, occurs in pine barrens, principally in New Jersey ; the small 

 evergreen leaves and delicate flowers, borne in profusion at the ends of 

 the branchlets, cause it also to be known as "flowering moss." 



Within the last few years florists have been using extensively for 

 winter decoration quantities of large round leaves not unlike tl^ose of 

 the water lily, exhibiting beautiful shades of purple and green. These 

 leaves are those of Galax aphylla, another plant of this family, the genus 

 being also monotypic. It is common throughout elevated regions in 

 the southern States, producing from a thick rootstock a number of the 

 handsome leaves and in spring a raceme of small white flowers. 



Undoubtedly the genus of greatest interest, however, is Shortia. 

 Originally described by Dr. Gray from a specimen without flowers, 

 found in the mountains of. South Carolina, the plant disappeared abso- 

 u tely from view, and for many years all the efforts of collectors to redis- 



