231 DIOECIA— TRIANDRIA. Ruscus. 



Erica. Matth. Valgr.v.l. \39.f. 



E. baccifera. Camer. Epit.77.f. Clus. Panrt. 29./. Dalech. Hist. 

 188./. Bauh. Hist. v.\. 526./. 



E. baccifera prorumbens. Ger.Em. 1383./. 



E. coris folio undecima. Clus. Hist. v. 1 . 45. f. 



On mountainous heaths in the north abundantly. 



Shrub. Maij. 



A dwarf, trailing, heath-like sJiriib, with numerous, leafy, smooth, 

 partly ascending, branches. Leaves crowded, scattered, or im- 

 perfectly whorled, hardly a quarter of an inch long, obtuse, on 

 short stalks ; dark-green and smooth above ; the margins fringed, 

 and folded in beneath. Fl. reddish, axillary, solitary, almost 

 sessile, several near together, towards the tops of the last 

 year's branches, generally dioecious, sometimes united, or ])ar- 

 tially monoecious. Berries half the size of a Currant, purplish- 

 black, with a mild flavour of Elder-berries ; chiefly the food of 

 mountain birds or quadrupeds, though sometimes eaten by 

 mankind in the most northern countries. Some report them to 

 be unwholesome, causing head-ache. Gunner says, Fl.Norveg. 

 V. \. 11, that they make a part of the food of the Norwegian 

 Laplanders, and that a sort of wine has been prepared from them 

 for about 600 years past in Iceland, as well as in Norway, whence 

 arose the report of real wine being made in those countries, 

 which was used at the Sacrament. 



450. RUSCUS. Butcher's-broom. 



Linn. Gen. 534. Juss. 42. Fl. Br. 1073. Tourn. t. 15. Lam. <.835. 

 Gccrtn. <. 16. 



Nat. Ord. Sarmentacece. Linn. 11. Asparagi. Juss. 12. 



Bar.fl. Col. of 6 leaves, spreading, ovate ; 3 alternate ones 

 smallest. Cor. Pet. none. Ncct. central, ovate, tumid, 

 erect, coloured, undivided, as long as the calyx; per- 

 vious at the summit. Filam. none. Anth. 3, spreading, 

 seated on the top of the nectary ; combined at the base. 



Fert.Jl. Cal. Pet. and Nect. as in the harr.jl. Anth. none, 

 or imperfect. Germ, superior, concealed in the nectary, 

 oblong-ovate. Style short and thick. Stigm. obtuse, 

 prominent through the orifice of the nect. Berry globu- 

 lar, succulent, of 3 cells. Seed seldom more than 1, 

 globular, hard. 



Firm, rigid, evergreen, bieiinial herbs, with perennial roots. 

 Stem branched. Leaves undivided, entire, continuous 

 with the stem, mostly bearing the pale greenish Jicwers, 

 often accompanied by a leqfef, either on the disk above, 



