786 



ERICACEAE. 



alternating with the segments of the corolla : their insertion 

 various. Style and stigma undivided. Capsule free, or ad- 

 hering to the fleshy calyx, therefore baccate ; cells for the 

 most part many-seeded. Albumen fleshy. Embryo erect, 

 slender. Shrubs variable in habit, scattered over the surface of 

 the earth in every direction. 



Among the numerous families which compose the vegetable 

 kingdom, few surpass the Ericaceae in the diversity of their 

 forms, beauty of their flowers, or in the extent of their geogra- 

 phical distribution, which verges upon the ultimate limits of 

 vegetation in both hemispheres. The direction of mountain 

 chains, more especially of particular strata, such, for example, 

 as siliceous and micaceous deposits, appears to exercise an 

 equally important influence on the distribution of this family, 

 with the circumstances of latitude and elevation. Species of 

 the groups of Andromedece and Vacciniece traverse the Andes 

 from one extremity to the other ; and in Asia they extend from 

 the Frozen Ocean to within the tropics, colonies of them being 

 found in almost every branch of the Indian Alps. The simi- 

 larity of the vegetation of North America and Central Asia is 

 strikingly exemplified in the groups of this family, which are 

 peculiar to both regions, such as Rhodbrece, Monotropece, Pyrolece, 

 Vacciniece, and the aberrant Ericece. Some species are common to 

 both continents, such as Pyrola picta, Monotropa Morisoniana, 

 Brydntlius Stelleri, Cassiope tetragbna, and Andromeda polifolia : 

 the two last forming likewise part of the European Flora. 

 Europe and Africa alone contain the normal Ericece, well cha- 

 racterized by their permanent corolla, the maximum of which is 

 at the Cape of Good Hope, a spot where so many families of 

 plants are found huddled together in strange confusion, as if 

 nature had at length deprived herself of sufficient space for their 

 equal distribution. The most easterly point to which this last 

 group extends is the Mauritius, where the various species of 

 Saldxis are found. The maximum of Rhodorece, Vacciniece, 

 Pyrblece, and Monotropece, and the aberrant Ericece, is found in 

 North America ; these tribes are also common to Asia. Van 

 Diemen's Land may be regarded as comprehending the majority 

 of the Epacridece. Of all the genera of Ericaceae, that of 

 Gaultheria is, however, the most extensively diffused, being 

 met with in almost every region of America, in New Zealand, 

 Van Diemen's Land, and other places of the South Pacific, and 

 in the East Indies. The greater development of the calyx in 

 this genus, and its more or less adherence to the ovarium, con- 

 siderably lessens the importance of the discriminating character 

 of the Vacciniece, and most satisfactorily shows that they consti- 

 tute but a group of Ericaceae, rather than a distinct order. As 

 happens in other very natural families, the characters of the ge- 

 neral groups of Ericaceae are not so strongly marked as in those 

 that are less so ; but we are not on that account to give up the 

 idea of dividing them, and to retain four or five hundred species 

 in one genus, as has been done in the case of Erica, which we 

 have here attempted to subdivide into a number of minor 

 groups ; and, whatever opinion may be formed of their title to 

 rank as separate genera, the arrangement of the species will we 

 trust be found more natural than any hitherto proposed. 



Synopsis of the genera. 

 TRIBE I. 



ERICE.S. Anthers 2-celled. Ovarium free. Hypogynous disk 

 nectariferous, sometimes, though rarely, ornamented with scales. 

 Buds naked. Leaves usually niih revolute margins. 



SUBTRIBE I. ERICEJE NORMA'LES. Normal Ericece. Corollas 

 permanent. 



1 ERICA. Calyx 4-parted, naked at the base. Corolla glo- 

 bose or urceolate, with a 4-lobed limb. Stamens inclosed ; with 

 capillary filaments and bifid anthers ; cells of anthers short, 

 opening by an oblong hole, awned or crested at the base, 

 rarely mutic. Stigma peltate. Leaves acerose. Pedicels 

 scaly. 



2 GYPSOCA'LLIS. Calyx 4-parted, glumaceous, naked at the 

 base. Corolla campanulate, or short-tubular, with a dilated 4- 

 lobed mouth. Stamens exserted, with flattened filaments and 

 bipartite anthers ; cells of anthers mutic at the base, distinct, 

 substipitate, opening by an oblique hole. Stigma simple. 

 Leaves acerose. 



3 BL^'RIA. Calyx 4-parted. Corolla short, tubular, with 

 a 4-cleft limb. Stamens 4-6, with linear flattened glabrous 

 filaments, and bipartite anthers ; cells of anthers attenuated at 

 the base, mutic, dehiscing by an oblong foramen at the apex. 

 Stigma obtuse. Leaves whorled. Flowers terminal, glome- 

 rate. 



4 SYMPIE'ZA. Calyx turbinate, compressed, bifid. Corolla 

 tubular, with a 2-parted limb, longer than the calyx. Stamens 

 4, epipetalous. Anthers bifid, mutic, exserted. Stigma sim- 

 ple. Leaves linear, trigonal, 3 in a whorl. Flowers glome- 

 rate. 



5 PACHY'SA. Calyx deeply 4-parted, coriaceous. Corolla 

 nearly globose, coriaceous, with a contracted 4-lobed mouth. 

 Stamens inclosed, with dilated filaments, and bifid anthers ; cells 

 of anthers short, crested at the base, opening by an oblique 

 foramen. Stigma obtuse. Leaves loosely imbricated, com- 

 pressed. Pedicels bracteolate. 



6 CERA'MIA. Calyx 4-parted, glumaceous. Corolla urceolate, 

 with a 4-lobed limb. Stamens inclosed, with dilated flat fila- 

 ments and bifid anthers : cells of anthers short, horned at the 

 base. Stigma capitate. Leaves scattered, bluntish, flat. 



7 DE'SMIA. Calyx 4-lobed. Corolla globose, with a con- 

 tracted 4-toothed mouth. Stamens exserted, with flat filaments ; 

 cells of anthers short, opening by an oblong hole, simple at the 

 base, and confluent in the filament. Stigma capitate. Leaves 

 scattered, subulate. 



8 EUKYLE'PIS. Calyx 4-parted, coriaceous, bibracteolate at 

 the base. Corolla tubular, coriaceous, ventricose at the base, 

 with an erect 4-parted limb. Stamens inclosed, with dilated 

 channelled filaments, and bipartite anthers ; cells of anthers co- 

 riaceous, opening by an oblong hole, auricled at the base. 

 Stigma clavate. Leaves scattered. Flowers terminal, solitary. 



9 EURYSTE'GIA. Calyx 4-parted, large, glumaceous. Corolla 



