384 



THE HEATH FAMILY. 



D. biixifoUum, the type of the genus, is an erect, spreading plant and 

 grows mostly near the coast. 



TAR=FLOWER. {Plate CXXIII.) 

 Bejaria racemosa. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Heatk. Pinkish iv/iite. i^centiess. Florida and Georgia. May-July. 



Flcnuers : showy ; growing in terminal, simple, or compound racemes ; pedicels, 

 long, slender. Calyx: short, with seven broad, sharp pointed teeth. Corolla: 

 with seven, spatulate-oblong petals, three quarters to an inch long and 

 nectar bearing at the base. Stamens : fourteen on the corolla ; filaments, 

 woolly at their bases. Stj'/e : long, exserted. Capsule : globose six to seven 

 valved and projecting the style. Leaves : sessile ; oval, or oblong, pointed at 

 the apex and tapering to a point at the base ; entire; olive-green and lustrous 

 above, the yellowish midrib very prominent underneath, coriaceous. A branch- 

 ing shrub three to four feet high, the twigs covered with bristly hairs. 



When the presence of the tar-flower is unexpected and it has burst 

 forth with all its splendour of life, it is such a surprise to those that find it 

 and such a beauty that it can hardly be watched with equanimity. About 

 the flowers there is a peculiar, delicate expression something like the wild 

 ones of early spring, or those that have been reared in cultivation. Not 

 infrequently they linger in bloom a long time while many others in the pine 

 barrens blossom and die. 



EUiottia racemosa. {Plate CXX/V.) 



Flowers : growing in long, terminal, panicled racemes, with long, smooth pedi- 

 cels. Calyx : minute, with four broad, pointed sepals. Petals : four, spreading ; 

 spatulate-linear, rounded at the summit and slightly attached at the base. 

 Stamens: eight, included. Pistil : one, with capitate-stigma. Leaves : oval, ellip- 

 tical or oblanceolate, pointed at the apex, the mid-vein projected and tapering at 

 the base into the margined petiole ; entire ; bright green and smooth above ; 

 slightly pubescent underneath at least when young. A shrub four to ten feet 

 high, nearly or quite glabrous. 



For those who wish to clear up a mystery of long standing it would be 

 well to study carefully the characteristics of EUiottia and then go forth and 

 search for it until its hiding place, if still existing, is revealed. At present 

 its habitat is lost to the knowledge of scientists as was that of Shortia for so 

 many years. The accompanying illustration, which portrays it clearly, and 

 the analysis here given were made possible from a specimen taken from 

 plants of EUiottia collected about 1878 by Mr. P. J. Berckmans, near 

 Augusta, Georgia, and still growing in cultivation at the Fruitland nurseries. 



