374 Key to the System of 



1643. Bracts and sepals blunt. 



Rather tall ; leaves small, spreading, rigid, mostly cordate 

 and gradually sharp-pointed, curved inward; flowers 

 short, axillary and solitary, but forming leafy spikes ; 

 corolla always white ; style abbreviated ; fruit small, 

 almost globular. E. microphylla. 



Bracts and sepals pointed ... ... . ... 1644 



1644. Leaves slightly pointed. 



Alpine, rather dwarf ; leaves quite small, often almost ovate, 

 thick, nearly or quite flat ; corolla always white ; fruit 

 small, almost glpbular. E. serpillifolia. 



Leaves conspicuously pointed. 



Alpine, tall, exceptionally arborescent ; leaves small, from 

 rhomboid- to lanceolar-oyate, generally somewhat concave; 

 flowers axillary, solitary, crowded towards the summit of 

 branchlets ; corolla always white ; style rather elongated ; 

 fruit small, almost globular. E, keteronema. 



SPRSNGELIA. 



1645. Corolla pink, deeply cleft, about as long as the calyx. 



Finally tall, often of intricate growth ; branches tough ; 

 leaves rather small, cylindrically incurved towards the 

 base, channelled-semilanceolar and divergent towards 

 the pointed summit ; flowers terminal, few together or 

 two or one ; sepals comparatively large, purplish ; lobes of 

 the corolla narrow, almost contiguous before expansion ; 

 stamens free from the corolla ; anthers frequently beset 

 with minute papillules, often coherent ; fruit small, 

 globular-ovate. S. incarnata. 



RICHEA. 



1646. Panicle spike-like, dense, with deciduous bracts and * 



bracteoles, generally distant from the spreading 

 leaves. 



Alpine, shrubby, moderately tall ; branches robust, tough ; 

 leaves rather large, very rigid, from a broad base semi- 

 laiiceolar, gradually much narrowed upwards ; spikes 

 terminal ; corolla very short, whitish, separating by 

 transverse basal fissure ; stamens free from the corolla ; 

 fruit small, almost globular. R, Gunnii. 



