Ericales.] 



ERICACE/E. 



453 



Order CLXIX. ERICACEAE.— Heathworts. 



Ericae, Juss. Gen. 159 (17B9).— Erices, R. Brown Prodr. 557. (1810).— Rhododendra, Juss. Gen. 158, 

 (1789).— Ericinea?, Desv. Jonrn. Bot. 28. (1813); Don in Edinb. Phil. Journal, p. 150. (1834); 

 Klotzsch in Linncea, vol. 9. 67. Lilt. (183r)). — Rhodoracese and Ericaceae, DC, Fl. Fr. 3. 671. and 

 675. (1815).— Ericaceae, Ed. Pr. clxvi. (1836) ; Endl. Gen. clxi.; DC. Prodr. 7. 580 ; Mcisner, p. 244. 



Diagnosis. — Erical Exogens, with monopetcdous ftoioers, free stamens all perfecty loose- 

 sTdmied or tight-skinned seeds, and '2-celled anthers opening by pores. 



Shrubs or under-shrubs. Leaves evergreen, rigid, entire, whorled, or opposite, with- 

 out stipules. Inflorescence variable, the pedicels generally bracteate. Calyx 4- or 



3 Fig. CCCXV. 



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 number to the segments of the coroUa, 

 or twice as many, hypogjuous, or scarcely in- 

 serted 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 vAi\\ 

 some kind of appendage, and dehiscing by a pore. 

 Ovary surroimded at the base by a disk, or secret- 

 ing scales ; many-celled, many-seeded ; style 

 1, straight ; stigma 1, undivided or toothed, or 

 3-cleft, with an indication of an indusium. Fruit 

 capsular, many-celled, with central placentae ; 

 dehiscence various. Seeds indefinite, minute ; 

 testa firmly adliering to the kernel ; embryo 

 cylindincal, in the axis of fleshy albumen ; radicle 

 much longer than the cotyledons and next the 

 hilum. 



This Natural Order contains some of the most 

 beautiful plants of which we have any knowledge. 

 They were formerly separated into two Orders by Jussieu, 

 distinguished Ericae and Rhododendra by the dehiscence of t 

 capsule ; a character not now esteemed of ordinal imporiance, and 

 consequently abandoned. Heathworts diff'er from Bilberries 

 and Belhvorts in their superior ovary, from Epacrids in the 2- 

 celled anthers, from Wintergreens and Fir-rapes in the stiiicture ^'S- CCCXVI. 

 of theu' seeds and habit, and from all the Orders of which Figworts and Gentianworts 



Fig. CCCXV.— Rhododendron albiflorum ; 1. a calyx and pistil, with aU the stamens removed save 

 one ; 2. an anther ; 3- a ripe capsule burst ; 4. a vertical section of a seed. 

 Fig. CCCXVI.— Arctostaphylos pungens. 1. a stamen ; 2. a cross section of an ovary. 



