CHAPTER XVIII 



DICOTYLEDONS: SYMPETAKS! 



169. General characters. The Sympetalse 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 Sympetalse may well begin. 



170. Heaths. In this family (Ericacece) 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. 213, B and C). The species belong 

 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, blueberries, 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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