6 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



"to break" in allusion to its brittle branches. Brittleness, 

 indeed, seems to be a family characteristic and the present 

 genus is well selected to lead the group and give origin to the 

 family name. Another genus of heathers is Calluna derived 

 from words meaning "to brush or sweep" and refers to the 

 use of the twigs for brooms. Among other names bestowed 

 for some characteristic of the plants, is Rhododendron which 

 is literally "rose tree." Rhodora, a genus maintained by 

 Britton, but combined with Rhododendron by Gray, is, as- one 

 might surmise, also derived from the Greek word for rose. 

 Still another genus swallowed ]:)y the all-devouring Rhododen- 

 dron of Gray, is Azalea derived from the Greek word for arid 

 or dry, possibly because the original species grew in dry places 

 as some of the American species are known to do. This latter 

 genus is kept separate by Biitton and in this we choose to 

 follow him. One of the beauties of several codes of nomen- 

 clature is that one may select first one and then another genus 

 if he is not hampered by too great a veneration for consis- 

 tency. The species of Rhododendron are called "laurel" 

 and the name of the Chaniaedaphne genus means "low laurel," 

 but it may be added that none of our laurels are at all closely 

 related to the laurel of classic fame. Bpigaea, the name of 

 the trailing arbutus genus has a meaning not so very differ- 

 ent from the one last mentioned since it means "upon the 

 earth." 



The single drooping flower of tlie Indian pipe suggested 

 its generic name, Monotropa, from the Greek for "one" and 

 "turn," and Monotropsis, another genus is, of course, "like 

 Monotropa." Closely allied td these two is the gtnu& Pteros- 

 pora which means literally "winged seeds." 



The bearberry genus is Arctstaphyllos. From the fact 

 that this species inhabits sand barrens and other sterile places 



