394 ERICACELE. 



for dyeing ; its tough, branches are a common material 

 for brooms ; its flowers are the favourite resort of bees, 

 and its seeds are said to enter largely into the food of 

 moor-fowl. Of the plants belonging to the 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 unpalat- 

 able ; and which, from the resemblance they outwardly 

 bear to strawberries, give the plant its English name, 

 Strawberry-tree. Some species, especially of Kdlmia 

 and Rhododendron, possess dangerous narcotic pro- 

 perties, which extend to the flesh of animals that have 

 fed on them. It is stated that the honey which poison- 

 ed the Grecian troops during the famous Retreat of the 

 10,000, had been collected by bees from the flowers of 

 some plant of this order ; and that the honey still 

 found on the shores of the Euxine, or Black Sea, pos- 

 sesses the same properties. The berries of some species 

 are, nevertheless, used in medicine with good effect. 



1. ERICA (Heath). Calyx deeply 4-cleft ; corolla 

 bell-shaped, or egg-shaped, 4-cleft ; stamens 8 ; capsule 

 4-celled. (Name from the Greek, erico, to break, from 

 some fancied medicinal properties.) 



2. CALLUNA (Ling, Heather). Calyx of 4 coloured 

 sepals, which are longer than the corolla, having at the 

 base outside 4 green bracts ; corolla bell-shaped ; 

 stamens 8 ; capsule 4-celled. (Name from the Greek, 

 calluna, to cleanse, from the frequent use to which its 

 twigs are applied, of being made into brooms.) 



3. MENZIESIA. Calyx deeply 4 5 cleft ; corolla in- 

 flated ; stamens 8 10 ; capsule 4 5 celled. (Named 

 in honour of Archibald Menzies, an eminent Scotch 

 botanist.) 



4. AZALEA. Calyx deeply 5-cleft ; corolla bell-shaped, 

 5 -cleft ; stamens 5 ; anthers bursting lengthways ; cap- 

 sule 2 3 celled, and valved.' (Name from the Greek 

 azdleos, parched, from the nature of the places in which 

 it grows.) 



