HEATH TRIBE 181 



4. V. oxycoccos (Marsh Whortleberry, Cranberry). Stem very 

 slender, prostrate, rooting ; leaves egg-shaped, glaucous beneath, 

 the margins rolled back ; corolla wheel-shaped, with 4 deep, reflexed 

 segments. A very low plant, with straggling, wiry stems, and 

 solitary terminal, bright red flowers, the segments of which are 

 bent back in a very singular manner. (" The fruit is highly agree- 

 able, making the best of tarts ; at Langtown, on the borders of 

 Cumberland, it forms no inconsiderable article of trade." Sir 

 W. T. Hooker.) Fl. June. Shrub. 



Natural Order XLVII 



ERICACEAE. The Heath Tribe 



Calyx 4 to 5-cleft, nearly equal, inferior, remaining till the fruit 

 ripens ; corolla of one petal 4 to 5-cleft, often withering and re- 

 maining attached to the plant ; stamens equal in number to the 

 segments of the corolla, or twice as many, inserted with the corolla, 

 or only slightly attached to its base ; anthers hard and dry, the 

 cells separating at one extremity, where they are furnished with 

 bristles or some other appendage, opening by pores ; ovary not 

 adhering to the calyx, surrounded at the base by a disk or by 

 scales, many-seeded ; style 1, straight ; stigma 1 ; fruit a berry or 

 dry capsule, many-seeded. Shrubs or small bushy trees with 

 evergreen, often rigid, opposite or whorled leaves. This well- 

 known and highly prized Order contains a large number of beautiful 

 plants, many of which are remarkable for their social nature ; 

 extensive tracts of country being often found entirely covered with 

 a few species, so as to give name (heaths) to the kinds of places on 

 which they grow. They are very abundant in South Africa, whence 

 they are often called by gardeners " Cape plants." They are 

 common also in Europe, in North and South America, both within 

 and without the tropics, and in the mountainous parts of Asia. 

 The extensive genus Erica (Heath) contains no plant possessing 

 useful properties, save Erica arborea, from which briar-root pipes 

 are made ; briar is a corruption of its French name bruyere. Cal- 

 luna vidgaris (Ling, or Heather) is astringent, and is sometimes 

 used for dyeing ; its tough branches are a common material foi 

 brooms ; its flowers are a favourite resort of bees, and its seeds 

 and young tender shoots enter largely into the food of moor-fowl. 

 Of the plants belonging to this Order which produce juicy berries, 

 the fruit is in some instances edible. Arbutus Unedo bears an 

 abundance of handsome berries, which, when thoroughly ripe, 

 are not unpalatable, and which, from the resemblance they out- 

 wardly bear to strawberries, give the plant its English name, 

 Strawberrv-tree. Some species, especially Kalmia and Rhododen 



