192 ERICACEAE. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Uva-ursi is astringent and tonic, and is 

 generally credited with a specific action upon the urinary tract. In a con- 

 dition of health it produces no diuretic effect, though it is said to do so in 

 certain cases of disease. During its administration the urine acquires a 

 dark color and a peculiar odor. It is chiefly used in chronic urinary dis- 

 eases, as pyelitis and cystitis, calculous affections, gleet, and incontinence 

 of urine. It has also been used advantageously in leucorrhoea, diarrhoea, 

 chronic bronchitis, and in passive hemorrhages. 



EPIGLEA.— Trailing Arbutus. 



Epigaea re pens Linne. — Trailing Arbutus, Ground Laurel, May- 

 Flower. 



Description. — Calyx deeply 5 -parted, colored, with three bracts at the 

 base ; the lobes ovate, acute, smooth. Corolla tubular, salver-form, rose- 

 color or nearly white, the limb 5-parted, somewhat spreading ; the lobes 

 ovate, obtuse, very hairy inside toward the base. Stamens 10, shorter 

 than the corolla ; filaments hairy at the base ; anthers linear, opening longi- 

 tudinally. Style straight ; stigma obtusely 5-lobed. Capsule depressed- 

 globular, obtusely 5-angled, 5-celled, many-seeded, covered with the per- 

 sistent calyx. 



A prostrate or trailing shrubby perennial. Stem woody, spreading on 

 the ground, and often rooting at the joints, clothed, as are the petioles also, 

 with stiff brownish hairs. Leaves evergreen, coriaceous, 1 to 2 inches long, 

 cordate-ovate, entire, obtuse or with a short mucronate point, sprinkled or 

 fringed with hairs. Flowers in short dense axillary and terminal fascicu- 

 late racemes, conspicuously bracteate, very fragrant and ornamental, ap- 

 pearing in April and May. 



Habitat. — In dry sandy woods, and on hill-sides, especially in pine re- 

 gions. 



Part Used. — The leaves — not official. 



Constituents. — Similar to, if not identical with those of uva-ursi, which 

 see. 



Preparations. — I)ecoction and infusion. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — This plant has been used as a substitute 

 for uva-ursi, and, it is claimed, with satisfactory results. 



G AULTHERI A. — A romatic Wintergreen. 



Gau!theria procumbens Linne. — Wintergreen, Partridge-Berry, Tea- 

 Berry, Checkerberry. 



Description. — Calyx 5-lobed, becoming fleshy and baccate, and then cov- 

 ering the capsule. Corolla cylindrical-ovoid, white, 5-toothed. Stamens 

 10, shorter than the corolla ; anthers 2 lobed, opening longitudinally, 2- 



