304 ERICACEAE 



beneath ; flowers solitary, terminal ; corolla bright red, rotate, with 

 4 long, linear, reflexed segments ; berries dark red. — Peat-bogs, 

 principally in the north. — Fi. June — August. Perennial. 



Series II. HYPOGYN^-Ord. XLIV.— LXI 



Ovary superior 



§ Stamens free 



Ord. XLIV. Ericace/E. — The Heath Family 



A large Order, mostly of shrubs and small bushy trees with 

 evergreen, often rigid, mostly opposite or whorled, simple leaves. 

 Many of them are remarkable for their " social " nature, large 

 tracts of country being often entirely covered with a few species, 

 and known from this as "heaths." They are most abundant in 

 South Africa, and are, therefore, often called " Cape plants " by 

 gardeners ; whilst other genera are so distinctively North Ameri- 

 can as to give rise to the name " American garden," for borders 

 in which they are grown. They are common also in South 

 America, in Europe, and in the mountainous parts of Asia, 

 chiefly outside the Tropics. Their -flowers are mostly polysym- 

 metric ; the calyx inferior, 4 — 5-cleft, persistent ; corolla hypo- 

 gynous, usually urceolate or campanulate, 4— 5-cleft, often 

 withering and remaining attached to the plant ; stametis in equal 

 number to the segments of the corolla, or twice as many, inserted 

 with the corolla, or slightly attached to its base ; anthers opening 

 by pores, and generally furnished with two bristle-like appendages ; 

 ovary superior, many-chambered, many-ovuled, with a hypogynous 

 disk ; style single, straight ; fruit 3 — 5-chambered, dry or succu- 

 lent, many-seeded. The extensive genus Erica (Heath) contains 

 no species possessing useful properties ; but briar-root pipes are 

 made from E. arborea, the name briar being a corruption of the 

 French bruyere. The Common Ling, or Heather (Calluna 

 vulgaris), is astringent, and is sometimes used in dyeing ; its tough 

 branches are a common material for brooms ; its flowers are a 

 favourite resort of bees ; and its buds, shoots, and seeds enter 

 largely into the food of moor-fowl. Of the plants belonging to 

 the Order which produce^ juicy, berry-like fruits, the fruit is, in 

 some instances, edible. Arbutus Unedo bears an abundance of 

 handsome fruits, which, when thoroughly ripe, are not unpalatable, 

 and which, from their outward resemblance to strawberries, give 

 the plant its English name. Strawberry-tree. Some species, 

 especially of Kdlmia and Azalea, possess dangerous narcotic 

 properties. The Canadian partridge is stated to be poisonous 



