LIMNANTHACEAE (FALSE MERMAID FAMILY) 651 



sepals greenish or purplish ; filaments white (their size and thickness rivinc the 

 name, from iraxvs, thick, and dvifip, used for stamen). 



1. P. procumbens Michx. Stems 1.6-2.8 dm. long, bearing several approxi- 

 mate leaves at the summit on slender petioles, and a few many-flowered spikes 

 along the base ; the intervening portion naked, or with a few small scales — 

 Woods, mts. of Ky., W. Va., and southw. ; adv. north w. March-May. 



EMPETRAcEAE (Ckowberry Family) 

 Low shrubby evergreens, with the foliage, aspect, and compound pollen of 

 Heaths, and the drupaceous fruit of Arctostaphylos, hut the divided or laciniate 

 stigmas, etc., of some Euphorbiaceae. — Probably only an apetalous and degen- 

 erate form of Ericaceae, and comprising three genera, two within the limits of 

 this work, the third farther south. 



1. Empetrum. Flowers scattered and solitary In the axils. Sepals 8, petalold. 



2. Corema. Flowers collected in terminal heads. Calyx none. 



1. Empetrum [Toum.] l. Crowberrt 



Flowers polygamous, scattered and solitary in the axils of the leaves, incon- 

 spicuous, scaly-bracted. Calyx of 3 spreading and somewhat petal-like sepals. 

 Stamens 3. Style very short ; stigma 0-9-rayed. Fruit a berry-like drupe, wiih" 

 6-9 seed-like nutlets, each containing an erect anatropous seed. (An ancient 

 name, from iv, upon, and ir^rpos, a rock.) 



1. E. nigrum L. (Black C.) Procumbent and spreading ; branchlets and 

 scattered linear-oblong leaves glabrous or merely pulverulent; fruit black.— 

 Arctic Am., s. to the coast of e. Me., mts. of n. N. E. and N. Y., n. Mich , and 

 coast of Ore. (Eurasia.) Var. PURPtiREUM (Raf.) DC. Fruit red or purple. — 

 Less common. 



Var. andinum (Philippi) DC. Branchlets and young leaves tomentose ; ber- 

 ries reddish or plum-colored, larger and more juicy. — Nfd., and mts. of Me. and 

 N. H. (Chili.) 



2. CORl^MA D. Don. Broom Crowberry 



Flowers dioecious or polygamous, in terminal heads, each in the axil of a scaly 

 bract, and with 6 or 6 scarious imbricated bractlets, but no proper calyx. Sta- 

 mens 3, rarely 4. Style slender, 3(or rarely 4-5) -cleft ; stigmas narrow, often 

 toothed. Drupe small, with 3 (rarely 4-5) nutlets. — Diffusely branched little 

 shrubs, with subverticillate narrowly linear heath-like leaves. (Name Kdprjfia, a 

 broom, from the bushy aspect. ) 



1. C. Conradii Torr. Shrub, 1.5-6 dm. high, diffusely branched, nearly 

 smooth ; drupe very small, dry and juiceless when ripe. — Sandy pine-barrens 

 and dry rocky places, N. J. and L. I. (?), Shawangunk Mts., N. Y., coast of 

 s. e. Mass. and Me. to Nfd. — The sterile plant is handsome in flower, on account 

 of the tufted purple filaments and brown-purple anthers. 



LIMNANTHAcEAE (False Mermaid Family) 



Herbaceous plants icith perfect regular S-^-merous slightly perigynous sym- 

 metrical flowers, the persistent sepals valvate. Glands alternate xoith the petals. 

 Stamens distinct. Carpels nearly distinct, unth a common style, l-ovuled, at 

 length fleshy and indehiscent, not beaked, separating from a very short axis. 

 Embryo straight; cotyledons very thick; radicle very short. — Low tender 

 annuals, with alternate pinnate exstipulate leaves. 



