PLANT NAMES AND THEIR MEANINGS -XVIII 



ERICACEAE. 



By W11.1.AUI) N. C1.UT1C 



rx^IlI^RI''. rire few i)hint families more attractive, or more 

 -^ celebrated in song and story, than the Ericaceae or 

 heath family. Si)reading in thick-set colonies over vast areas, 

 and covered, during the blooming season, with an abundance 

 of showy flowers, they cannot fail to attract tlie eye, while 

 the edible fruits which many species produce appeal to nearly 

 all palates. In addition, their curious predilection for acid 

 soils and their al)ility to flcjurish in sterile, uncultivated re- 

 gions make them interesting subjects for investigation. 



Although the members of the group have numerous char- 

 acteristics in common, a sort of flower personality, as it were, 

 which makes tlie heaths distinguishable from other plants, 

 they nevertheless possess individual peculiarities which ren- 

 der each species easily separable from the others. There are 

 also certain group resemblances that make possible the ar- 

 rangement of the species in four or five fairly homogenous 

 lesser divisions. In the older books these are usually regarded 

 as sub-families under the general title of Ericaceae but in 

 recent works tliey are often maintained as separate families. 

 Tnder the latter arrangement we should have the pepper- 

 bushes or Clethraceae, the blueberries and huckleberries or 

 \"acciniaceae, the pine-saps or Montropaceae, the shin-leafs 

 or Pyrolaceae and the Ericaceae, proper. For the purposes 

 of the present study, we shall follow the older classifications. 

 The genus Erica, to w-hich the true heaths and heathers 

 belong, derives its name from the Greek word, Briko, meaning 



