EMPETRACEi^ 



CROWBERRY, Empetrum mgrum. 



Mountain heaths, bogs, gardens. May, June. Thrives in damp peaty soil. 

 Propagated by cuttings in sandy peat under bell-glass, June — August. 



Floivers purple, dioecious, minute, sessile, in the axils of the upper leaves ; 

 Perianth of G segments, in 2 whorls, scale-like ; Sepals (the outer whorl) 

 rounded, concave, entire ; Petals sub-spathulate, scarious, reHexed, hypogynous ; 

 Stamens 3, alternate with petals, hypogynous, exserted, filaments long, anthers 

 red ; Ovary superior, on fleshy hypogynous disk, 6-9-celled, globose, style short, 

 stigma with 6-9 radiating arms ; Fruit a fleshy drupe, globose, J- J in. long, 

 brownish-black or purple, edible, 2-9 bony, 1-seeded stones. 



Leaves in whorls of 3-4, or crowded and alternate at the tips of shoots, 

 linear, linear-oblong or acicular, \~\ in. long, sub-sessile, semi-terete, revolute, 

 margins recurved to midrib, glabrous or slightly ciliate and coriaceous, shining 

 green above, paler beneath, with whitish midrib. 



An evergreen shrub, 6-18 ins. ; Stem procumbent, much branched, glabrous ; 

 Branches slender, wiry, spreading, trailing, red-brown. 



Native of British Isles. Generic name from Gr. eii pet7'on ; en, upon, petros, 

 a rock, from growing in stony places. Also called Crakeberry. It is the badge 

 of the clan M'l^ean in Scotland. 



Class II Monocotyledons 



Division I Petaloidce 



Natural Order . . . LiliacecB 



Usually herbs, sometimes frutescent and arborescent ; Leaves usually 



narrow, flowers showy ; Perianth usually 6-partite in two series, rarely 4, 8, 



or 10 segments; Stamens 6, hypogynous or epiphyllous. anthers usually introrse ; 



Ovarij superior, 3-celled, placentation axile ; Fruit a capsule or berry, usually 



3-celled. 



191 R 3 



