450 ERICACEAE. Vaccinium. 



SUBORDER IV. MONOTKOPE.E. 



Corolla and stamens hypogynous. Pollen-grains simple. Capsule loculicidal. 

 Eoot-parasitic scaly-bracted herbs, wholly destitute of green foliage, rather various in 

 structure, by some of the genera intimately connected with Ericinece and Pyrolece ; 

 the last- enumerated genera anomalous in placentation. (Order Monotropece, Benth. 

 & Hook. Gen. PL) 



* Ovary and capsule 4 - 5-celled, with placentae in the axis adnate to a thick central column. 



+- Corolla wanting. 



15. AUotropa. Calyx of 5 sepals. Anthers extrorse in the bud, introrse in the developed flower, 

 in the manner of Pyrola : the cells opening down to the middle. 



Corolla gamopetalous : calyx complete, of 5 sepals : anthers not reversed. 



16. Pterospora. Flowers racemose. Corolla globular-ovate, the short lobes recurved. Anthers 



2-awned on the back in the manner of many Ericinece. 



17. Sarcodes. Flowers in a thick scaly spike. Corolla campanulate, the lobes erect. Anthers 



not appendaged. 



-i-4--i- Corolla 4 - 5-petalous, and calyx incomplete or bract-like, both deciduous : anthers hori- 

 zontal or peltate, opening transversely : disk 8-10-toothed. 



18. Monotropa. Flowers solitary or racemose, nodding, the fruit upright. 



* * Ovary and capsule 1 -celled, or spuriously 4 -5-celled by the meeting of parietal placentae : 



no central column : anthers erect, unappendaged ; the cells opening lengthwise into 2 valves. 



19. Pleuricospora. Flowers spicate. Sepals and petals each 4 or 5, fimbriolate-lacerate. An- 



thers linear. Ovary and capsule 1 -celled, witli 4 or 5 bilamellate placenta?. Seeds ovoid, 

 with a close and thin shining coat. 



20. Newberrya. Flowers capitate. Sepals 2, bract-like. Corolla gamopetalous, tubular-urn- 



shaped, 4 - 5-lobed. Anthers oblong. Ovary with 4 or 5 two-parted placentae uniting 

 more or less around the open centre. 



1. VACCINIUM, Linn. CRANBERRY, BILBERRY, &c. 



Corolla epigynous, various in shape. Anthers with the two cells separate, taper- 

 ing upwards into a tube and opening by a hole at the apex. Style long : stigma 

 simple or more or less capitate, without a ring. Fruit a many-seeded berry crowned 

 with the vestiges of the 4 or 5 small teeth of the calyx. Gray, Chlor. Bor. Am. 

 52, & Man. Bot. Northern U. S. 



The species abound in the eastern and more northern parts of North America, but are few indeed 

 in California (none of the eastern Blueberry type), and all except one rare. Yet the following east- 

 ern species may perchance be found along the northern borders of the State or at great elevations. 



V. OXYCOCCUS, Linn., Small Cranberry, which is found round the world farther north, may 

 occur in the higher northern parts of the Sierra Nevada ; but we have seen no specimens from 

 even so far south as Puget Sound. 



V. MACROCARPON, Ait., Large Cranberry, of the Atlantic side of the continent ; said in Hook- 

 er's Flora to be " plentiful in swampy grounds near the confluence of the Columbia with the 

 Pacific, where its berries are boiled and eaten by the natives under the name of Soolabich, Doug- 

 las." Attention is called to this, as no one has since met with this or any other Cranberry in 

 Oregon. 



V. C^ESPITOSUM, Michx., a very dwarf species, with deciduous obovate leaves, and blue berries, 

 occurring on the mountains in the northeastern part of Nevada and in Oregon and northward, ex- 

 tending to Labrador. 



* Leaves deciduous : anthers with a pair of long awn-like appendages on the back : 



corolla short, white or flesh-color. 



+- Flowers solitary in the axils on a recurved peduncle. 



1. V. parvifolium, Smith. Shrub much branched, 1 to 6 feet high, glabrous : 

 branches and branchlets sharply angled : leaves oval or oblong, very obtuse at both 



