179 



is obtained from the fruit of Bassm butyracea, the Mahva or Madhuca Tree. 

 The flowers of the same tree are emploj^ed extensively in the distillation of a 

 kind of arrack. Ed. P. J. 12. 192. The juice of the bark of Bassia longi- 

 folia is prescribed by the Indian doctors in rheumatic affections. Ainslie, 2. 

 100. The Butter Tree of Mungp Park was also a species of Bassia. The 

 bark of 4 species of Achras is so astringent and febrifugal as to have been 

 substituted for quinquina. The Cow Tree of Humboldt has been sometimes 

 supposed to be referable to this order ; but there seems no reason now to doubt 

 its belonging to Artoearpeae. The Tingi da Praya of Brazil, with which the 

 Indians destroy fish, is the Jacquinia obovata. The branches are bruised and 

 thrown into the water. It must not be confounded with another fish poison, 

 called Tingi only, which is a species of Paullinia. Pr. .Max. Trav. 166. 

 Examples. Achras, Mimusops. 



CLXX. ERICEiE. The Heath Tribe 



Eric*, Juss. Gen. 150. (1789.)— Ericeje, R. Brmcn Prodr. 557. (1810); IAndl. Synops. 172. 

 (1829.)— Rhododendra, Juss. Gen. 158. (1789.)— Ericin-eje, Desv.Journ. Bot. 28. (1813.) 

 — Rhodorace^e and Ericace.s:, Dec. Fl. Fr. 3. 671. and 675. (1815.) 



Diagnosis. Monopetalous shrubby dicotyledons, with regular flowers, a 

 superior many-seeded ovarium, a single style, 2-celled dry anthers with appen- 

 dages, apterous seeds, and embryo in the axis of albumen. 



Anomalies. Azalea, Rhododendron, &c, having an irregular corolla, but 

 their stamens are symmetrical. The petals of Ledum scarcely cohere. In 

 Arctostaphylos the seeds are definite. There is a species of Erica with broad 

 winged seeds, according to Mr. Brown. 



Essential Character. — Calyx 4- or 5-cleft, nearly equal, inferior, persistent. Corolla 

 hypogynous, monopetalous, 4- or 5-cleft, occasionally separable into 4 or 5 pieces, regular or 

 irregular, often withering, with an imbricated aestivation. Stamens definite, equal in num- 

 ber to the segments of the corolla, or twice as many, hypogynous, or inserted into the base of 

 the corolla ; anthers 2-celled, the cells hard and dry, separate either at the apex or base, where 

 they are furnished with some kind of appendage, and dehiscing by a pore or cleft. Ovarium 

 surrounded at the base by a disk, or secreting scales, many-celled, many-seeded ; style 1, 

 straight; stigma 1, undivided or toothed. Fruit capsular, many-celled, with central pla- 

 centa? ; dehiscence various. Seeds indefinite, minute ; testa firmly adhering to the nucleus ; 

 embryo cylindrical, in the axis of fleshy albumen ; radicle opposite the hilum. — Shrubs or 

 tinder-shrubs, heaves evergreen, rigid, entire, whorled, or opposite, without stipula;. Inflo- 

 rescence variable, the pedicels generally bracteate. 



Affinities. Formerly separated into two by Jussieu, who distinguished 

 Ericece and Rhodoracese by the dehiscence of their capsule ; a character 

 which is not now esteemed of ordinal importance, and which is consequently 

 abandoned. They differ from Vaccinieae and Campanulacere in their superior 

 ovarium, from Epacridece in the structure of their anthers, from Pyrolacese in 

 the structure of their seeds and in habit, and from all the orders of which Scro- 

 phularineae and Gentianea? may be considered the representatives, in the num- 

 ber of cells of the ovarium agreeing with the lobes of the calyx and corolla. 



Geography. Most abundant at the Cape of Good Hope, where immense 

 tracts are covered with them ; common in Europe and North and South 

 America, both within and without the tropics ; less common in northern Asia 

 and India, and almost unknown in Australasia, where their place is supplied 

 by Epacrideae. 



