250 OCTANDRIA. MONOGTNIA. 



Herbaceous; leaves opposite or alternate; fiowers red- 

 dish, towards the summit of the stem, solitary and axil- 

 lary, or in terminal bracteate spikes: stamina in a few spe- 

 cies declinate. 



Species. I.Ta. spicatnm. Commonly called -E. an^ifs/z- 

 folivm, but the leaves are comparatively more broad than 

 narrow, 2. latifoliiim. 3. luteiim. Ph. 4. tetragonnm. 5. 

 * sqiiamatiim. Subcanescently pubescent; root squamose, 

 bulbous; stem terete, branching' above; stem leaves oppo- 

 site, those of the branches alternate, linear and entire, re- 

 vohite on the margin; flovrers pedunculate; petals bifid; 

 stamina unequal; stigma clavate undivided. Hab. In wet 

 meadows, common around Philadelphia. E. rosmarinifo- 

 Uum. Pursh, Flor. Am. 1. p. 259. but this name has been 

 already applied by Maenke to a very different species. 

 Obs. Root in winter an imbricated squamose bulb, with 

 succulent reddish scales! Stem about 1 foot high, slender; 

 flowers small, few and terminal; petals small, white, and 

 veined, bilobed, longer than the calix; stamina unequal, 

 4 shorter opposite the petals, and 4 longer alternating 

 •with them; capsulevery long, 4-sided, b.coloraliun. Leaves 

 with linear and round diaphanous punctures (tlirough a 

 lens) after the manner of (Enotheray excepting that the 

 punctures are of ^wo forms. Y.palustre. S. alpi?ium> Pro- 

 bably E. oUganthum. Mich. 1. p. 223. 



A genus principally indigenous to the north of Europe, 

 extending as far as Greenland; there is also 1 species in 

 Chili, 2 in New-Zealand, and 1 at the Cape of Good Hope. 

 Have not all the species indigenous to the colder regions 

 roots which assume the form of bulbs in winter? 



364. OXYCOCCUS. Fersooii, (Cranberry.) 



Calix superior, 4 -toothed. Corolla 4 -parted; 

 segments sublinear, revolute. Filaments conni- 

 vent. Anthers tubulose, semibifid. Berry many- 

 seeded. 



Small prostrate creeping shrubs with evergreen leave.?, 

 growing in sphp.gnose morasses; branches filiform, proli- 

 ferous; flowers produced at the base of the vernal ramuli, 

 in short gemmaceous racemes, peduncles conspicuous 

 bibracteate; berries red, or rarely white, acid. 



Species. \. O. macrocarpns. Obs. Repent; leaves oval- 

 oblonu, nearly flat and obtuse, distantly subserrulaie, un- 

 der side somewhat glaucous, younger ones pubescent a) 

 the points; segments of the corolla lineurlanceolate. — 

 Branches sometimes flexuose and adscendent, serruln- 



