21 4" HEATH FAMILY. 



§ 4. Ckanbeket ; creeping or trailing very slender hardli) woody plants, with 



small evergreen leaves whitish beneath, single flowers in summer, borne on 



slender erect pedicels, pale rose corolla deeply parted into 4 narrow reflextd 



divisions, 8 anthers with very long tubes but no awns on the back, and acid 



red berri/ 4-celled, ripe in autumn. 



V. Oxyedocus, Small C. Cold peat-bogs N. & E. : a delicate little plant, 



flowering, at the end of the stems, the ovate acute leaves (only j' long) with 



strongly revolute margins, berry only half as large as in the next, often speckled 



with white, seldom gathered for market. 



V. maeroc&rpon, Lakge or American C. Bogs from Virginia N. ; 

 vcith stems 1° to 3° long, growing on so that the flowers become lateral, ob- 

 long obtuse leaves sometimes ^' long, and with less revolute margins, and 

 berries J' or more long ; largely cultivated for the market E. 



3. CHIOGENES. ( Greek-made nanje, alluding to the snow-white berries.) 



C. hispidula, Ceeepino Snowberry. Cool peatbogs and low mossy 

 woods N. ; with nearly herbaceous slender creeping stems, very small ovate 

 pointed evergreen leaves, their lower surface and the brancblets beset with rusty 

 bristles, minute axillary flowers in late spring, and white berries ripe in summer : 

 these and the foliage have the flavor of Aromatic Wintergreen. 



4. ERICA, HEATH. (Ancient Greek name.) All belong to the Old 

 "World. The Heaths of the conservatories, blooming in winter, belong to 

 various species from Cape of Good Hope. Of the European species one bears 

 the winter well at the North, and is planted, viz. 



E. c&rnea (in the form called E. herbXoea), of the Alps ; a low under- 

 shrub, with linear blunt leaves whorled in fours, and rosy or bright flesh-colored 

 flowers, with narrow corolla rather longer than calyx, in early spring. 



5. CALLtlNA, HEATHER, LING. (Name from Greek, to sweep, brooms 

 being made from its twigs in Europe. ) 



C. vulgaris, Common H. of North Europe, seldom planted, very sparingly 

 found wild in E. New England and Nova Scotia, &c. : fl. summer. 



6. ARCTOSTAPHYLOS, BEARBERRY (the name in Greet). 



A. Uva-TJrsi, Common B. ; trailing over rocks and bare hills N., forming 

 mats, with thick smooth and entire obovate or spatulate evergreen leaves, and 

 small scaly-bracted nearly white flowers in a .short raceme, in early spring, fol- 

 lowed by the red austere berries. Leaves used in medicine, astringent and 

 somewhat mucilaginous. 



7. GAULTHERIA, AROMATIC WINTERGREEN, &c. (Named 

 for Dr. Gaulthier or Gaultier of Quebec, over 130 years ago.) 



G. prooTimbens, Creeping W., Boxberrt, Checkeeberrt, &c. ; 

 common in evergreen and low woods, spreading by long and slender mostly 

 subterranean runners, sending up stems 3' -5' high, bearing at summit a few 

 obovate or oval leaves and in summer one or two nodding white flowers in the 

 axils, the edible red "berries " lasting over winter : these and the foliage famil- 

 iar for their spicy flavor, yielding the oil of wintergreen 



G. Sh&llon, in the shade of evergreen woods of Oregon, &c., and sparingly 

 planted, a shrub spreading over the ground, with glossy ovate slightly heart- 

 shaped leaves about 3' long, and flowers in racemes. 



8. EPIGiEA. (Name in Greek means on (/ieiyroKnd, from the growth.) 



E. rfepens, Trailing Arbutus, Ground Laurel, or, in New England, 

 Mayflower. Sandy or some rocky woods, chiefly E., under pines, &c. ; pros- 



