North American Plants. 85 



communicated to me by Mr. Rafinesque. A careful examina- 

 tion of the scanty materials placed in my hands, soon con- 

 vinced me that this little evergreen belonged to the order Em- 

 petrel of Nuttall, and that it was a new species of Empetrum 

 itself, or possibly of Ceratiola ; but the want of more perfect 

 specimens, and especially of the fertile flowers, prevented my 

 determining the genus with certainty until the present spring. 

 About two years ago I made a visit to the locality at Cedar 

 Bridge, pointed out to me by Mr. Rafinesque, for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining the fruit. A large patch of it was found 

 about one hundred yards south of the western tavern, near 

 the roadside, and, on further search, a considerable quantity 

 was discovered about four hundred yards south-east of the 

 same tavern, in an open sandy space ; but I was unsuccessful 

 in my search for the fructification. It is a true evergreen, 

 growing prostrate in the pure white sand of that singular re- 

 gion, and forming dense circular mats, a yard or two in dia- 

 meter. The following year I procured a supply of the living 

 plants, which, under the care of my friend A. J. Downing, 

 Esq. ofNewburgh, have lately produced abundance of pistillate 

 blossoms, but, for want of the staminate flowers, they will prove 

 abortive. The genus Empetrum belongs to the small natural 

 order Empetrere, which was first indicated by Mr. Nuttall in 

 his Genera of North American Plants, (published in 1818) 

 and characterized more fully by Mr. D. Don in the Edinburgh 

 New Philosophical Magazine (1826). Hooker, in the Bo- 

 tanical Magazine, (fol. 2758) has made some valuable remarks 

 on the order, under the genus Ceratiola of Michaux. The 

 only genera referred to it are Empetrum, Corema, and Cera- 

 tiola, the whole including but five species, which are confined 

 to Europe and Extratropical America. Bartling (Ord. Nat. 

 p. 372) appears to have drawn the character of the order from 

 Empetrum nigrum, since it accords very well with that plant, but 

 does not agree in every respect with Ceratiola ; for he states the 

 number of the stamens to be three ; and both this author and 



