ERICACE.S. (HEATH FAMILY.) 251 



9. EPIGJEA, L. GROUND LAUREL. TRAILING A IBUTUS. 



Corolla salver-form ; the tube hairy inside, as long as the ovatc-lanceolata 

 pointed and scale-like nearly distinct sepals. Stanuns 10, with slender fila- 

 ments : anthers oblong, awnless, opening lengthwise. Pod depresscd-glot alar, 

 5-lobed, 5-celled, many-seeded. A prostrate or trailing scarcely shrubby plant, 

 bristly with rusty hairs, with evergreen and reticulated rounded and heart-shaped 

 alternate leaves, on slender petioles, and with rose-colored flowers in small axil- 

 lary clusters, from scaly bracts. (Name composed of eVt, upon, and 7/7, the earth, 

 from the trailing growth.) 



1. E. repcns, L. Sandy woods, or sometimes in rocky soil, especially 

 in the shade of pines, common in many places. Flowers appearing in early 

 spring, and exhaling a rich spicy fragrance. In New England called MAT- 

 FLOWER. 



6. GAUL.THERIA, Kalm. AROMATIC WINTERGREEN. 



Corolla cylindrical-ovoid or a little urn-shaped, 5 toothed. Stamens 10, in- 

 cluded : anther-cells each 2-awned at the summit, opening by a terminal pore. 

 Pod depressed, 5-lobed, 5-r,elled, 5-valved, many-seeded, enclosed when ripe by 

 the calyx, which thickens and turns fleshy, so as to appear as a globular red 

 berry ! Shrubs, or almost herbaceous plants, with alternate evergreen leaves 

 and axillary (nearly white) flowers : pedicels with 2 bractiets. (Dedicated by 

 Kalm to "Dr. Gaulthier," of Quebec; Linn, Amoen. Acad. 3, p. 15 ; very likely 

 the same person as the M. Gautier who contributed a paper on the Sugar-Maple 

 to the Memoirs of the French Academy ; but it is too late to alter the original 

 orthography of the genus.) 



1. O. prociinibens, L. (CREEPING WINTERGREEN.) Stems slender 

 and extensively creeping on or below the surface ; the flowering branches as- 

 cending, leafy at the summit (3' -5' high); leaves obovate or oval, obscurely 

 serrate ; flowers few, mostly single in the axils, nodding. Cool damp woods, 

 mostly in the shade of evergreens : common northward, and southward along 

 the Alleghanies. July. The bright red berries (formed of the calyx) and the 

 foliage have the well-known spicy-aromatic flavor of the Sweet Birch. In the 

 interior of the country it is called Wintergreen, or sometimes Tea-berry. East- 

 ward it is called Checkerberry or Partridge-berry (names also applied to M-Vtrhella, 

 the latter especially so), and Boxberry. 



7. L.EUC6THOE, Don. LEUCOTHOE. 



Calyx of 5 nearly distinct sepals, imbricated in the bud, not enlarged nor 

 fleshy in" fruit. Corolla ovate or cylindraccous, 5-toothed. Stamens 10: an- 

 thers naked, or the cells with 1 or 2 erect awns at the apex, opening by a pore. 

 Pod depressed, more or less 5-lobed, 5-celled, 5-valved, the sutures not thick- 

 ened ; valves entire : the many-seeded placentas borne on the summit of the short 

 columella, mostly pendulous. Shrubs, with petioled and serrulate leaves, and 

 white scaly-bracted flowers crowded in axillary or terminal spiked racemes, 

 f A mythological name.) 



