PLANTS. 295 



Flowers bell-shaped campanulate. The yellow-green 

 leaves remain on the bush all winter. Berries larger 

 than the largest peas ; red, very sour, and although not 

 unpleasantly so, rough to the taste, are, when prepared 

 with sufficient sugar, much esteemed as an article of table 

 diet ; considered wholesome as possessing medicinal pro- 

 perties. 2 . 



FOKTIETH FAMILY. ERIACE^:.* (Class 10, L.) 

 Heath (Erica vulgaris), a well known plant, that in 

 the northern countries of the Old World covers vast 

 tracts of wild land, and is remarkable for the beauty and 

 variety of its flowers. It is unknown to North America, 

 although there are many flowering plants embraced in 

 the order Eriaceae, to which it belongs. Its small, but 

 innumerable red flowers, are very attractive to bees for 

 the sake of the honey contained in their calices. It is 

 also used as straw, the trailing stems being very suitable, 

 and in Scotland and Ireland the plant enters largely into 

 the manufacture of a variety of rude domestic articles. 

 Sometimes it is made to serve for fuel. 2 . Many rela- 

 tive species of extreme beauty have been cultivated in 

 British gardens, and nurtured as exotics, and from the 

 elegance and delicacy of their tissue and colors, form the 

 ornament of our green houses. These varieties claim 

 New Holland and the Cape of Good Hope as their 

 native places. There are from three to four hundred 

 varieties. 



Mountain Laurel, Rosebay (Rhododendron ferru- 

 gineum), L. Leaves smooth, oblong, green above, 

 brown or ferruginous bslow ; flowers funnel-form, stand 



* But one or two of this family (Heathworts) are known in America. 

 The true Eriacece are chiefly natives of the Cape of Good Hope. None 

 in Asia or Xew Holland. WOOD. Tr. 



