ERICACEAE. (HEATH FAMILY.) 245 



1. S. perfoliiita, A. DC. Somewhat hairy ; leaves roundish or ovate, 

 clasping bj the heart-shaped base, toothed ; flowers sessile, solitary or 2 - 3 to- 

 gether in the axils ; the upper and later ones only with a conspicuous expanding 

 (purple-blue) corolla; pod oblong, opening rather below the middle. Dry \ulla 

 or open fields ; common. May - 





ORDER 62. ERICACEAE. (HEATH FAMILY.) 



Shrubs, sometimes herbs, with the flowers regular or nearly so: the stamens 

 as many or twice as many as the 4 - 5-lobed or 4 - b-petalled corolla, free 

 from but inserted with it: anthers 2-celled, commonly appendaged or open- 

 ing by terminal chinks or pores: style 1: ovary 3 -10-celled. Seeds small, 

 anatropous. Embryo small, or sometimes minute, in fleshy albumen. A 

 large family, very various in many of the characters, comprising four well- 

 marked suborders, as follows : 



SUBORDER I. VACCINIEJ2. THE WHORTLEBERRY FAMILY. 



Calyx-tube adherent to the ovary, which forms an edible berry or berry- 

 like fruit, crowned with the short calyx-teeth. Anthers 2-parted. Pollen 

 compound (of 4 united grains). Shrubs or somewhat woody plants, with 

 acaly buds. 



1. GAYLUSSACIA. Ovary 8 - 10-celled, with a single ovule in each cell. Fruit a berried 



drupe with 8-10 small nutlets. 



2. VACCINIUM Berry 4 - 5-celled (or imperfectly 8 -10-celled by false partitions), many- 



seeded. Anther-cells tapering upward into a tube. 



8. CHIOGENES. Berry 4-celled, many-seeded, its summit free. Anther-cells not prolonged 

 into a tube, but each 2-pointed. 



SUBORDER II. ERICINEJi. THE PROPER HEATH FAMILY. 



Calyx free from the ovary. Corolla monopetalous, or rarely nearly or 

 quite polypetalous, hypogynous. Pollen of 4 united grains. Shrubs or 

 small trees. 



TRIBE I. ARBUTE^E. Fruit indehiscent, a berry or drupe. Corolla deciduous. 

 4. ARCTOSTAPHYLOS. Corolla urn -shaped Drupe berry-like, 6 - 10-seeded. 

 TRIBE II. A1VDROMEDE.3E. Fruit a pod opening loculicidally. Corolla deciducna. 



* Anthers upright in the bnd, the cells opening lengthwise. Corolla salver-shaped. 



6. EPIGJEA. Calyx of 5 separate dry and pointed sepals. Anthers not appendaged. 



* * Anthers upright in the bud, opening only at the top. Corolla monopetalous, either glob- 



ular, urn-shaped, bell-shaped, or cylindrical. 



- Calyx enlarged and berry-like in fruit. 



6. GAULTIIERIA. Calyx 5-cleft, in fruit enclosing the small many -seeded pod. Anthers 4- 



awned at the top. 



- *- Calyx dry, not becoming fleshy after flowering. 



7. LKUCOTHOE. Calyx imbricated in the bud. Corolla cj lindraceous. 5-toothed. Pod de- 



pressed, 5-lobed, tbe valves entire. 



B. CASSANDRA. Calyx imbricated. Corolla cy lindraceous, 5-toothed. Pod splitting whaa 

 ripe into an outer and inner layer, the inner of 10 raJves. 



