CLETHRACEAE 285 



CLETHRACEAE. 



A small family, closely allied to the Ericaceae, consisting of 

 the following genus, with about 30 species : 



CLETHRA, Linnaeus. (White Alder, Sweet Pepper Bush) 



Clethra alnifolia, L. (Including C. fonieiitosa. Lam., which does 

 not seem to differ much.) 



A medium -sized erect shrub with toothed deciduous leaves 

 and erect spikes of fragrant creamy-white flowers in July and 

 August. Occasionally cultivated for ornament. 



Grows mostly in damp sandy pine lands and on edges of 

 sour swamps, in the coastal plain ; but two striking exceptions are 

 noted below (first two regions). 



4. Along- branches on south slope of the Bhie Ridge a few miles from 

 Erin, Clay County. 



5. Dry pine hills near Walnut Creek, Chilton County. 



6. Reported from the central pine belt bv Mohr, but locality not speci- 

 fied. 



lOE. Crenshaw, Coffee, Dale and Covington Counties. 



12. Washington, Covington, Geneva and Houston Counties. 



13. Common throughout. 



Clethra aciniiiiiata. Mx., a larger species, chiefly confined to the moun- 

 tains of North Carolina, is credited to Alabama by Small, but without cefi- 

 nite locality, and probably without sufficient evidence. 



ERICACEAE. Heath Family. 



A large family, with about 60 genera and 1,200 species, con- 

 sisting almost entirely of shrubs. They are noted especially for 

 their preference for sour soils, which tends to keep them out of 

 limestone regions and weedy habitats, and also makes most of them 

 difficult to cultivate. 



AZALEA, L. The Honeysuckles (commonly so called in the 

 South at least). 



The nomenclature and classification of this genus are some- 

 what unsettled at present. The type species is Azalea Indica, a 

 showy shrub cultivated for ornament in the lower South. Our 

 species are all deciduous, but were formerly put in Rhododendron, 

 a genus which in the restricted sense contains only evergreens. 

 Wilson and Rehder, in 1921 (see bibliography), treated them as a 

 subgenus Anthodendron under Rhodendron, and Mr. Ashe in the 



