342 SYSTEMATIC BOTANY 



ovary in the ovary flowers is inferior, with three 

 parietal placentas which may almost meet in the 

 centre, and constitute the watery flesh of the fruit, 

 a berry (p. 245), peculiar in having a thick tough 

 rind. The seeds are very numerous and flat, and in 

 some cases there is formed on the hypocotyl of the 

 germinating embryo, a projection which holds one half 

 of the seed coat down so as to allow the cotyledons to 

 be pulled out more easily (p. 50). There is no 

 endosperm. 



The family occurs mostly in the warmer parts of 

 the world. 



* ERICACEAE 



This family is quite absent from the plains, but in 

 the hills is represented by GAULTHERIA and RHODO- 

 DENDRON. 



RHODODENDRON ARBOREUM, Sm. is a well-known 

 tree occurring on the higher, bleaker, slopes of the hills. 

 The bark is very thick and to this is probably due 

 the presence of the tree in those open moorlands where 

 periodic grass fires kill out trees less well protected. 



Leaves alternate, oblong, rough, with prominent 

 veins and incurred margins and covered with a silvery 

 and brownish tomentum. 



Flowers massed in almost sessile, dense branches. 

 Corolla monopetalous, campanulate, five-lobed, pink or 

 red with dark patches inside at the base. Stamens 

 ten, separate from, not attached to, the corolla tube, 

 their anthers each with two small tails and opening 

 by two pores at the upper end, not by slits. Ovary 

 five or more celled with a single style ; fruit a 



