452 PLANTS AND MAN 



axillary yellow flowers, are common in wet locations throughout 

 the central states. 



There are numerous species of the family which are peculiar 

 to the West. Farewell-to-spring, found on hillsides of the 

 Pacific coast, has lavender, purple or white flowers, each with 

 four petals in the form of a shallow cup. Red ribbons, found from 

 California to Washington, has flowers characterized by recurved 

 sepals and four narrow rose-purple petals. California fuchsia, a 

 species partial to dry slopes, has flowers with a scarlet funnel- 

 shaped calyx and four small petals. 



The Heath Family 



In the preceding families of Dicots, the flowers typically con- 

 sist of separate sepals and petals, a condition considered primitive 

 among Angiosperms. As a result of progressive specialization for 

 insect pollination, there has occurred a fusion of sepals or petals 

 (or both) to form a tubular calyx or corolla. This sympetalous 

 condition is characteristic of the remaining families of Dicots, 

 from the Heath Family to the Composites. The Heath Family 

 {Ericaceae) includes many plants frequenting the northeastern 

 boggy woodlands (fig. 275). Checkerberry, trailing arbutus and 

 bearberry are herbaceous plants of the family; while azalea, 

 rhododendron, laurel and manzanita are shrubby members of the 

 group. 



Checkerberry or teaberry (cf. fig. 175) grows in evergreen 

 woods of our northeastern states; the leaves are dark green and 

 shiny, the urn-shaped flowers of white or pink are borne in the 

 axils of the leaves. Trailing arbutus or Mayflower is a creep- 

 ing plant with oval evergreen leaves and clusters of fragrant pink 

 flowers each with a broad five-lobed corolla; it grows in woods 

 throughout eastern United States. Bearberry is likewise a 

 trailing evergreen plant with narrow leaves and white flowers in 

 terminal clusters. Western species of the same genus, known as 

 MANZANITA, bccomc shrubs with smooth red bark, gray-green 

 foliage and white or pink urn-shaped flowers. 



Azaleas are shrubs with deciduous leaves and fragrant pink 

 or white flowers, each with a funnel-shaped corolla of partly 

 united petals and projecting stamens. They are especially 



