434 



EMPETRACE.E 



a circle ; linear-lanceolate, i -veined leaves, resembling those of a 

 Toad-flax ; and clusters of whitish -flowers ; bracts 3.— 1 )ry chalky 

 and limestone hills in the south of England; rare. — Fl. May — 

 July. Perennial. 



TH^siUM 'humifusum {Bostavd Toad-Jlax). 



Series II. ACHLAMYDE^ 



Ord. LXXI. 



§ Flowers not in catkins 

 Empetrace/e.— Crowberry Family 



A very small Order of small heath-like evergreen shrubs, of 

 obscure affinities, inhabiting North Temperate, Arctic, and Sub- 

 Antarctic regions. They have scattered exstipulate leaves ; minute, 

 axillary, polysymmetric, polygamous flowers, with 4 — 6 imbricate 

 scales, either bracts or perianth-leaves ; stamens 3 —4, alternate with 

 the inner scales ; ovary 2 — 9-chambered, on a fleshy disk ; style r ; 

 stigma radiate ; fruit fleshy, with bony, i -seeded chambers. The 

 sUghtly acid berries of the Crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), though 



