ERICACEAE. (HEATH FAMILY.) 317 



icle, terminating the branches of the season. Bracts and bractlets minute, 

 deciduous. Foliage acid (whence the name, from o|u'y, sour, aud SevSpov, tree.) 



1. O. arboreum, DC. Tree 15-40 high; leaves in size and shape like 

 those of the peach. Rich woods, from Penn. to lud., and southward, mostly 

 along the Alleghanies, to Fla. June, July. 



9. LETJCOTHOE, Don. 



Calyx of 5 nearly distinct sepals, imbricated in the bud. Corolla ovate or 

 cylimlraceous, 5-toothed. Stamens 10; anthers naked, or the cells with 1 or 

 2 erect awns at the apex, opening by a pore. Capsule depressed, more or less 

 5-lobed, 5-celled, 5-valved, the sutures not thickened; valves entire ; the many- 

 seeded placenta; borne on the summit of the short columella. Seeds mostly 

 pendulous. Shrubs with petioled and serrulate leaves, and white scaly -bracted 

 flowers in dense axillary or terminal spiked racemes. (A mythological name.) 



* Anthers awnless ; stig ma 5-rat/ed ; racemes sessile, dense, with persistent bracts, 



in the axils of thick and shining evergreen leaves; calyx not hracteolate. 



1. L. axillaris, Dou. Leaves lanceolate-oblong or oval, abruptly pointed 

 or acute, somewhat spinulose-serrulate, on very short petioles ; sepals broadly 

 ovate. Low grounds, Va. to Fla. and Ala. Feb. - April. Shrub 2-4 high. 



2. L. Catesbsei, Gray. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, serrulate 

 with ciliate-spiuulose appressed teeth, conspicuously petioled (3 - 6' long) ; sepals 

 ovate-oblong, often acute. Moist banks of streams, Va. to Ga. along the moun- 

 tains. May. Shrub 2-4 high, with long spreading or recurved branches. 

 Flowers exhaling the unpleasant scent of Chestnut-blossoms. 



* * Anthers awned ; stigma simple ; flowers very short-pedicelled, in long one- 



sided racemes mostly terminating the branches; bracts deciduous; leaves 

 membranaceous and deciduous, serrulate; calyx bibrac.teolate. 



3. L. reciirva, Buckley. Branches and racemes recur 'ved-spread ing ; 

 leaves lanceolate or ovate, taper-pointed ; sepals ovate; anther-cells 1 -awned ; 

 pod 5-lobed ; seeds flat and cellular-winged. Dry hills, Alleghanies of Va. to 

 Ala. April. Lower and more straggling than the next. 



4. L. racemosa, Gray. Branches and racemes mostly erect -, leaves ob- 

 long or oval-lanceolate, acute ; sepals ovate-lanceolate ; anther-cells each 2-awned : 

 pod not lobed ; seeds angled and wingless. Moisk thickets, Mass to Fla. and 

 La., near the coast. May, June. Shrub 4- 10 high. Corolla cylindrical. 



10. CASSANDRA, Don. LEATHER-LEAF. 



Calyx of 5 distinct rigid ovate and acute sepals, imbricated in the bud, and 

 with a pair of similar bractlets. Corolla cylindrical-oblong, 5-toothed. Sta- 

 mens 10; anther-cells tapering into a tubular beak, and opening by a pore at 

 the apex, awnless. Capsule depressed, 5-celled, many-seeded , the pericarp of 

 2 layers, the outer 5-valved, the cartilaginous inner layer at length 10-valved. 

 Seeds flattened, wingless. Low and much branched shrubs, with nearly ever- 

 green and coriaceoiis leaves, which are scurfy, especially underneath. Flow- 

 ers white, in the axils of the upper small leaves, forming small 1 -sided leafy 

 racemes. ( Cassandra, a daughter of Priam and Hecuba.) 



