Calluna.] ERICE^. 179 



very valuable for many purposes, especially for implements of hus- 

 bandry. Leaves pinnate. Flowers in panicles. Capsules lanceolate. 



ORD. 48. ERICE^E. Juss. Heath Family. 



Calyx persistent, free, 3 4, often 5-partite. Corolla in- 

 serted into the base of the calyx (almost hypogynous), 4 5- 

 cleft, marcescent. Stamens definite, equal and alternate with 

 the segments of the corolla, or twice as many, distinct, inserted 

 at the base of the calyx or of the corolla. Anthers 2-celled, 

 the cells hard and dry, usually opening by pores, and furnished 

 with appendages. Ovary 1, free, surrounded at the base by a 

 disk or by scales : style 1 : stigma 1. Fruit many-celled, bac- 

 cate, or frequently capsular, many-seeded, many-valved ; de- 

 hiscence various. Seeds minute, attached to central placentas: 

 testa firmly adhering to the nucleus. Embryo straight in the 

 axis of a fleshy albumen ; radicle next the hilum. Shrubs or 

 undershrubs. Leaves evergreen, rigid, entire, whorled, or oppo- 

 site, without stipulce. Inflorescence variable ; the pedicels gene- 

 rally bracteate. 



1. ANDROMEDA. Linn. Andromeda. 



Calyx deeply 5-cleft. Corolla ovate or campanulate. Anthers 

 with awns. Capsules superior, 4 5-celled, the dissepiments 

 from the middle of the valves. Name given in allusion to 

 the story of Andromeda, who was chained to a rock and ex- 

 posed to the attack of a sea-monster : so does this beautiful 

 tribe of plants grow in dreary and northern wastes, feigned 

 to be the abode of praeternatural beings. 



Decandria. Monogynia, 



1. A. polifotia, Linn. Marsh Andromeda. Leaves alter- 

 nate, lanceolate, their margins revolute, glaucous beneath; 

 flowers on short terminal racemes. JBr. Fl. 1. /?. 188. E. FL 

 v. ii. p. 251. E. Bot. t. 713. 



p. costceflora ; leaves inversely ovato-lanceolate ; flowers in 

 umbels, 5-sided. Tempi MSS. 



Peat bogs in various parts of the country* . on a dry bog between 

 Newport and Castleconnel. Near Grey Abbey, County of Down ;; 

 Mr. Templeton. Fl. June. J? . A small evergreen shrub, with 

 beautiful oval or urceolate, rose-coloured, drooping flowers, a good 

 deal concealed among the terminal leaves. Two other distinct varieties 

 are cultivated in gardens besides the two described above. 



2. CALLUNA. Salisb. Ling. 

 Calyx of 4 coloured sepals, surrounded by 4 coloured bracteae* 



