264 DESCRIPTION OF NEW SPECIES 



the enlarging calyx, five-celled, with a five-lobed placenta, the lobes sepa- 

 rated by the dissepiments. Seeds small and exceedingly numerous, angular 

 and somewhat cuboid, impressed-punctate. — Small evergreen shrubs of 

 South America, extending to Oregon, Mexico, the West Indies, and the 

 southern States of the American Union: a distinct section exists in the 

 Sandwich and Friendly Islands, and perhaps in Madagascar. Leaves 

 generally serrate and small. Flowers usually scarlet or red, as well as 

 the calyx and fruit. Berries of a fleshy consistence, as in those of Aronia, 

 usually edible, not juicy or glaucous, as in the whortleberry. Probably a 

 divided genus. But I have no materials for its investigation beyond the 

 limits of the United States, the Sandwich Islands, and a single species from 

 Peru. (The name given is in allusion to the angular form of the corolla.) 



§ I. Berry suhpyriform, ajithers arvned. 



t Peduncle solitary, axillary, ehracteate. 

 Metagonia cereal Vaccinium cereum. Forster. Flor. ins. Austral, prod. p. 28. 



Hab. Tahiti. 



Metagonia calycina, Vaccinium calycinum. Smith. Cyc. no. 7. 



Hab. On shelving rocks at the Pari, Oahu. A very humble shrub, with scarlet flowers, calyces 

 and fruit. The berry has exactly the appearance and consistence of that of the Aronia botryapitim, 

 being crowned with a very conspicuous calyx: its taste is agreeably subacid, and it is frequently 

 employed as a preserve by the missionaries. This, or the preceding species, is the Ohelo of the 

 natives, so abundant in the volcanic mountains of Owhyhee. 



Metagonia pendulijlora. Vaccinium pendulijlorum, (Gaudighaud.) Pro- 

 bably nothing more than a variety of M. cerea. Corolla in all the species 



conic and pentangular. 



ft Flowers racemose. 



Metagonia meridionale. Vaccinium meridionale. Swartz. 



Hab. The mountains of Jamaica. 



Metagonia corymbodendron. Vaccinium corymhodendron. (Dunal.) 



Hab. In Alpine situations, near the cityof Pillao, Peru. The calyx bibracteate. Corolla conic. 



§11. Anthers arvnless, with nearly erect terminal pores. Fruit yyriform or globose. 

 Metagonia Pyxothamnus, ovata, Vaccinium ovatum. Pursh. 1. p. 290. 

 V. lanceolatum. Dunal. A numerous leaved variety. 



