Andromeda. ERICACE^. 437 



variable in breadth, at length nearly smooth above, paler and more or less pubescent under- 

 neath. Panicles composed of numerous short racemes, naked, or sometimes with one or two 

 small leaves at the base ; the pedicels pubescent, often in fascicles, usually without bracts. 

 Flowers scarcely two lines in length, pubescent. Filaments glandularly pubescent : anthers 

 ovate, entire, with two large terminal obliquely truncated pores. Style rather thick, deciduous : 

 stigma small, capitate, entire. Capsule globose, dark brown, with pale ribs at the sutures 

 which at length fall awa}'. 



Swamps and moist thickets ; common. Fl. June - July. Fr. September. 



Tribe III. RHODORE^. D. Don. 



Fruit capsular ; the dehiscence septicidal. Corolla deciduous. Anthers awnless. Flower- 

 buds mostly scaly. 



6. RHODODENDRON. Linn.; D. Don in Edinb. phil.jour. 6. p. 49. nosE-BAY. 



[ From the Greek, r/wdoa, a rose, and dendron, a tree ; in allusion to the color of the flowers.] 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla somewhat funnel-form or campanulate ; the limb 5-cleft, and 

 somewhat irregular. Stamens 5 - 10, declined : anthers opening by two terminal pores. 

 Capsule mostly 5-celled. Seeds numerous ; the testa loose. — Shrubs or small trees, with 

 alternate, entire, deciduous or evergreen leaves and corymbose flowers. 



§ 1. Etjrhododendron, Endl. Corolla campanulate : stamens iO [or sometimes d>). 



1. Rhododendron maximum, Linn. ' . -■ Great Laurel. 



Leaves elliptical-oblong, evergreen, acuminate, thick and coriaceous, smooth, paler under- 

 neath ; corymbs somewhat racemose or thyrsoid, dense ; lobes of the calyx ovate-oblong, 

 obtuse. — Linn. sp. 1. p. 392 ; Michx. fl. 1. p. 259 ; Bot. mag. t. 951 ; Michx. f. sylv. 2. 

 L 67; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 297; Bigel. Jl. Bost. p. 168, and med. bot. t. 51 ; Ell. sk. 1. p. 483 ; 

 Torr. Jl. 1. p. 426 ; Beck, bot. p. 220 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 263 ; DC. prodr. 7. p. 722. 



A shrub 6-12 feet high (sometimes 20 or 25 feet high, with a diameter of 4 or 5 inches 

 Michx.), with irregular straggling branches and a grayish bark. Leaves in tufts at the 

 extremity of the branches, 4-6 inches long and 1 - 1 i inch wide, mostly obtuse at the 

 base, pale and often a little rusty colored underneath, somewhat revolutc on the mar'nn ; the 

 petioles about an inch in lengtli. Flowers very large and showy, in dense terminal clusters ; 

 the pedicels at first short and concealed by large viscidly pubescent acuminate bracts, but 

 finally an inch or more in length. Calyx short, viscid. Corolla campanulate, with a short 

 tube ; the lobes oblong, obtuse, rather unequal, rather pale rose-color or sometimes almost 

 white ; the upper lobe largest, spotted with orange, and often emarginate. Stamens unequal, 

 the longest rather shorter than the corolla : filaments white, woolly at the base ; anthers ob- 

 long. Ovary oblong, glutinous : style dcclinate : stigma somewhat clavale-capitate. Capsule 

 oblong, glandular. Seeds numerous, oblong ; the testa rather loose and reticulated. 



