FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 209 
The cranberry belongs to the genus Oxycoccus, and the cranberry 
industry is an important one on Cape Cod and in parts of New J. ersey. 
Besides the cranberry of commerce we have one or two wild species. 
The checkerberry or true wintergreen (Gaultheria) produces a fruit that 
appears to be a true berry, but in reality the fleshy part consists of the 
enlarged fruiting calyx, enveloping the ovary. 
It should be stated that many of the heaths contain toxic alkaloids, 
rendering their herbage poisonous to stock; and it is on this account 
that the narrow-leaved laurel of our northern States (Kalmia angus- 
tifolia)'is known as “sheepkill” or “lambkill.” 
Family Epacridaceae. Australian Heath Family. This group, 
which is almost exclusively confined to Australia, contains about 32 
genera and 350 species, all shrubs or undershrubs of heath-like aspect 
and entirely replacing the Ericaceae in that region. They differ from 
the latter in the uniformly 5-parted corolla, the 1-celled anthers without 
appendages of any sort, and in the attachment of the corolla. Several 
genera, notably Epacris, Leucopogon and Styphelia, are sometimes culti- 
vated in greenhouses. Some yield edible berries. 
Family Diapensiaceae. Diapensia Family. Includes 6 genera, most 
of which are monotypic, all being natives of the northern hemisphere. 
They are low shrubs or scapose herbs, with white, pink or purple 
flowers and simple leaves. The calyx or corolla have their parts in 
fives ; the stamens also are 5, borne on the throat of the corolla. Ovary 
3-celled, becoming a 3-valved capsule. Nearly all the genera of this 
family are interesting on account of their remote or local distribution. 
Thus Diapensia is found around the Arctic circle and on the higher 
mountains of northern New England; it is a tufted undershrub with 
solitary white or pink flowers. Pyxidanthera or “pyxie,” a monotypic 
genus, occurs in pine barrens, principally in New Jersey; the small 
evergreen leaves and delicate flowers, borne in profusion at the ends of 
the branchlets, cause it also to be known as “flowering moss.” 
Within the last few years florists have been using extensively for 
winter decoration quantities of large round leaves not unlike those of 
the water lily, exhibiting beautiful shades of purple and green. These 
leaves are those of Galax aphylla, another plant of this family, the genus 
being also monotypic. It is common throughout elevated regions in 
the southern States, producing from a thick rootstock a number of the 
handsome leaves and in spring a raceme of small white flowers. 
Undoubtedly the genus of greatest interest, however, is Shortia. 
Originally described by Dr. Gray from a specimen without flowers, 
found in the mountains of South Carolina, the plant disappeared abso- 
utely from view, and for many years all the efforts of collectors to redis- 
