448 



EPACRIDACE^. 



[Hypogynous Exogens. 



Order CLXV. EPACRIDACEjE — Epacrids. 



Epacrideae, R. Brown Fn 



535. (1810); Link Handb. 1. 601. (1829), a § o/Ericese ; DC Prod. 7. 

 734; Endl. Gen. clx. 



Diagnosis. — Erical Exogens, xoiiJi monopetalous jiotoers, perfect free stamens, seeds loith a 

 firm sJcin, and \-celled anthers opening longitudinally. 



Shrubs or small trees, their hair, when present, being simple. Leaves alternate, very 

 rarely opposite, entire or occasionally serrated, usually stalked ; their bases sometimes 

 dilated, cucuUate, overlapping each other and half sheathing the 

 stem, without a midi'ib, but with the veins simple and parallel, or 

 radiating from the base. Flowers white or pm'ple, seldom blue, 

 either in spikes or terminal racemes, or solitary and axillary ; the 

 calyx or pedicels with 2 or several bracts, which are usually of the 

 same texture as the calyx. Calyx 5-parted (very seldom 4-parted), 

 often coloured, persistent. Corolla hypogynous, monopetalous, either 

 deciduous or withering, sometimes capable of being separated into 

 5 pieces, its limb with 5 (rarely 4) equal di\asions, sometimes, in 

 consequence of the cohesion of the segments, bursting transversely ; 

 the aestivation valvate or imbricated. Stamens equal in number 

 to the segments of the corolla, and alternate with them ; very sel- 

 dom fewer in number. Filaments arising from the corolla, or hy- 

 pogynous. Anthers one-celled, with a smgle receptacle of pollen, 

 which forms a complete partition sometimes having a border ; un- 

 divided, opening longitudinally. Pollen either nearly round or 

 formed of 3 connate grains. Ovary sessile, usually surrounded at 

 the base with 5 distinct or connate scales ; with several, rarely a 

 single, cell ; ovules soUtary and pendulous, or 00 ; style 1 ; stigma 

 simple, or occasionally toothed. Fruit drupaceous, baccate, or cap- 

 sular. Seeds with albumen. Embryo taper, straight in the axis, 

 more than half as long as the albumen ; the cotyledons veiy short, 

 the radicle superior in the drupaceous species, variable in the 

 capsular. 



This Order differs from Heathworts chiefly in the structure of the 

 anther ; but that organ being one of the principal featm'es of Heath- 

 worts, any material deviation from it acquires an unusual degree of 

 consequence. In the latter Order the anther consists of 2 cells, 

 usually furnished with peculiar appendages ; in Epacrids it is 1 -celled, 

 with no appendages whatever. In some other respects Epacrids 

 are different from Heathworts : their stamens very commonly ad- 

 here to the sides of the corolla, a circum- 



t 



stance which is at variance with the Eri- _/g^'-':^v-v (\, \\\ W / ¥:i :•:£ 



cal and all the neighbomnng Alliances, 



and their leaves have veins with quite the 



structm'e of Endogens, so that although 



the two Orders have but slender verbal 



distinctions, they are in reality extremely 



dissimilar. 



All natives of the Indian archipelago, 

 or Australasia, or Polynesia, where they 

 abound as Heaths do at the Cape of Good Hope. It is remarkable that only 1 or 2 

 Heathworts are found in the countries occupied by Epacrids. 



The species are chiefly remarkable for the great beauty of their flowers and the sin- 

 gular structm'e of then* leaves, as above described. All the fniits of the berry-bearing 

 section, especially those of Lissanthe sapida, are esculent ; but the seeds are too large, 

 and the pulpy covering too thin, to render them very available for food ; Astroloma 

 humifusum, the Tasmanian Cranberry, is found all over that colony. It has a fruit of a 



Fig. CCCXI. 



Fig. CCCXI.— Dracophyllum sco-parium.— Hooker. 1. a sepal ; 2. a flower with its bract ; 3. section 

 of a seed-vessel. 



