1076 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART ill, 
CHAP. LXIX. 
OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER ERICA‘CEE, 
Distinctive Characteristics. Calyx and corolla each with 4—5 segments. 
Stamens 4—5—8—10, inserted variously, but alternately with the segments 
of the corolla where not more numerous than they. Anthers, in most, with 2 
cells. Ovary with its cells, in most, agreeing in number with the segments of 
the calyx or corolla. Style and stigma undivided. Seeds many. Albumen 
fleshy. Embryo erect, slender. Shrubs (in Rhododéndron arboreum, a timber 
tree); various in habit, inhabiting most parts of the world. (Don’s Mill. and 
Lindley’s Introd. to N.S.) This order contains many of the finest and most 
ornamental shrubs of the temperate regions of the world; all the species which 
compose it have hair-like roots, and require a peat soil, or a soil of aclose 
cohesive nature, but which is yet susceptible of being readily penetrated by 
the finest fibrils which belong to any kind of plants. Peat, thoroughly rotted, 
leaf-mould, or very fine loamy sand, are soils of this description, and are 
accordingly required, more or less, for all the plants of this order. The hair. 
like roots of the Ericacez soon suffer, either from a deficiency or a superfluity 
of moisture; and hence an important part of their culture in gardens consists 
in keeping the soil in which they grow equally moist. In transplanting hair- 
rooted plants, they are very apt to suffer from their slender fibrils coming in 
contact with the air: but, fortunately, these fibrils are so numerous, and 
so interlaced with each other, as to form a kind of network, which en- 
closes and supports a portion of the soil in which they grow, and the 
plants are, consequently, almost always sent from the nurseries with smalk 
balls of earth attached to them. This practice, by continually diminishing 
the quantity of peat earth in a nursery, occasions a demand for a con- 
tinual supply of this expensive soil, and, consequently, tends to increase the 
price charged for plants of the Ericaces. On the other hand, the adhesion 
of the soil to the roots answers an economical purpose, as it does not require 
the plants to be grown in pots for the convenience of sending them out ; since 
many of them may be taken up and carried to a distance, at any season, 
and even, if it were necessary, when in full flower, without sustaining much 
injury. All the species are readily propagated by seeds, layers, or cuttings. 
The following characteristics of the genera, and of the groups which they 
form, are deduced from Don’s Miller, in which the whole order has been 
remodeled by Professor Don. 
Sect. I. Fri’cer. 
Sect. Char. Calyx not connate with the ovary, except in Gaulthéria. Disk 
nectariferous, hypogynous. Fruit, in most, a capsule. Inflorescence, in 
the bud state, naked. 
§ i. Eri’ceEs® normaA‘LEs. Calyx and Corolla each with 4 Segments. Corolla 
permanent. Stamens 8. Fruit with 4 Cells. 
Erica D. Don. Corolla globose, or pitcher-shaped. Filaments capillary. 
Anthers not protruded beyond the corolla, bifid; the cells short, opening 
by an oblong hole, awned or crested at the base, or, in a few, without 
an appendage. Stigma peltate. Leaves needle-shaped, scattered, or in 
whorls. 
Gypsoca’Luis Sal. Corolla bell-shaped, or shortly tubular. Filaments flat. 
Anthers protruded beyond the corolla, 2-parted; the cells without any 
appendage at the base, distinct, each on a short stalk, and opening by an 
oblique hole. Stigma simple. Leaves needle-shaped, in whorls. 
Catiu\na Sal. Corolla shorter than the calyx, bell-shaped. Filaments 
dilated. Anthers not protruded beyond the corolla, with two small appen- 
