CHAPTER XVIII 
DICOTYLEDONS: SYMPETALA 
169. General characters.—The Svmpetale include the 
families of highest rank, about fifty in number, among 
which there are many well-known plants, and some of 
great use. The representative families are easily recognized, 
and five of them will be presented, with which a real ac- 
quaintance with the Sympetale may well begin. 
170. Heaths.—In this family (Ericacee) there are often 
ten stamens, in two sets, so that there are five cycles of 
floral parts; and thus such forms are easy to distinguish from 
the following families, in whose flowers there are only 
four cycles. Heaths are usually woody plants, often shrubs, 
sometimes trailing, occasionally trees. One of the most 
peculiar and constant features of the family is that the 
anthers usually open at the top and generally by terminal 
pores (§ 134) (Fig. 2138, B and C). The species bclong 
chiefly to the cooler regions, often being the prominent 
vegetation in cold bogs and on heaths, to which latter they 
give name (Fig. 289). 
Trailing arbutus, bearberry (kinnikinick), heather, rho- 
dodendron (Fig. 290), azalea, mountain laurel, winter- 
green, and corpse-plant (Indian pipe) are familiar forms; 
while huckleberries, bluchcrrics, and cranberries are staple 
fruits. The cranberries grow wild in mossy (sphagnum) 
bogs in the cool temperate regions of both America and 
Europe. Two kinds usually appear in market: the small 
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