oxycoccus ERICACEAE 413 



0. palustris Pers. Syn. i, 419. Vaccinium oxycoccus L. Stems very 

 slender, creeping, rooting at the nodes, 6-18 inches long; branches erector 

 ascending, 2-6 inches high, very leafy: leaves thick, evergreen, ovate, 

 acute at the apex, rounded or cordate at baee 2-5 lines long, green above, 

 white beneath, the margins revolute, entire : flowers 1-5 in a fasicle from 

 terminal thin-scaly buds, nodding on erect long filiform 2-bracteolate pedi- 

 cels : corolla pink, about 4 lines broad, cleft nearly to the base; filaments 

 fully half as long as the anthers : berries globose, 3-5 lines in diameter, 

 often spotted when young. In cold bogs, Oregon to and around the sub- 

 Arctic Zone. 



Var. intermedium. Vaccinium Oxycoccus var. intermedium Gray. 

 Leaves from ovate to oblong, mostly obtuse, 3-6 lines long : flowers strictly 

 umbellate from the scaly bud, but this not rarely proliferous into a leafy 

 shoot: berries 3-5 lines in diameter. Cold bogs in the Cascade Mountains, 

 Oregon to Brit. Columbia. 



Order LV. ERICACEAE DC. PL Franc, iii, 675. 



Shrubs trees or herbs with simple leaves without stipules, 

 and mostly perfect flowers. Calyx inferior, free from the ovary, 

 4-5-parted or 4-5-cleft, mostly persistent. Corolla regular, or 

 rarely somewhat irregular, usually 4-5-toothed or 4-5-lobed. 

 Stamens hypogynous, usually as many or twice as many as 

 lobes or divisions of the corolla : filaments mostly separate and 

 free or nearly free from the corolla : anthers 2-celled, the cells 

 often prolonged upwardly into tubes, opening by terminal pores 

 or chinks, or longitudinally, often awned : the pollen composed 

 of 4 united grains. Ovary 2-5-celled with placentae in the 

 axis, the ovules usually numerous, sometimes solitary, anatro- 

 pous: style single: stigma peltate or capitate. Fruit a capsule 

 berry or drupe. Embryo small or minute, in fleshy albumen. 



Tribe i, Arbute^e Fruit a berry or berry-like drupe. Corolla 

 4-5-toothed, deciduous. 



1 Arbutus Ovary 5-celled, many-ovuled: fruit a many-seeded berry. 



2 Arctostaphylos Ovary 5-10-celled, with a single ovule in each cell : 



fruit a 5-10-seeded drupe, or by abortion 3-9-seeded. 



Tribe ii, Andromede^e Fruit a loculicidal, chiefly 5-celled 

 and many-seeded capsule. Corolla usually 5-toothed, deciduous. 



* Calyx becoming fleshy and berry-like in fruit, enclosing the small 

 capsule. 



3 Gaultheria Corolla campanulate and 5-lobed, or urceolate, 5-toothed. 



* * Calyx remaining dry under the naked capsule. 



4 Andromeda Low shrubs with moderately broad leaves : calyx valvate 



or open in bud : corolla from globular-urceolate to cylindraeeous : cap- 

 sule 5-celled. 



5 Cassiope Small fruticulose plants with small thick or acerose mostly 



imbricated leaves : calyx of ovate imbricated sepals : corolla open-cam- 

 panulate, 4-5-lobed or parted : capsule 4-5-valved, the valves 2-lobed. 



Tribe hi, Rhodore^e. Fruit a septicidal capsule, the valves 

 in dehiscence separating from the persistent placentiferous col- 



