178 



EMPETRACEiE. 



Empetrum. 



Order XCVII. EMPETRACEiE. Nuttall. The Crowberry Tribe. 



Flowers dioecious or polygamous. Calyx consisting of several imbricated sepals, 

 or else of bract-like scales, of which the innermost are petaloid. Stamens as 

 numerous as the inner sepals, persistent. Ovary free, 2 - 9-celled, with a 

 single erect ovule in each cell : style short or almost wanting : stigma radiately 

 lobed ; the lobes often laciniate. Fruit a berry-like drupe, or sometimes dry, 

 containing 2-9 bony nucules. — Low heath -like evergreen shrubs, with 

 crowded narrow leaves, and small flowers in the upper axils. Seeds with a 

 membranaceous testa, albuminous. 



1. EMPETRUM. Tourn. ; Don in Edinb. new phil. jour. 2. p. 82 ; Endl. gen. 5761. 



CROWBERRY. 



[ From the Greek, en, in, and petros, a stone ; because the plants mostly grow in rocky places.] 



Calyx consisting of several imbricated scales, of which the three innermost are commonly 

 regular- spreading and petaloid. Sterile fx. Stamens 3. Ovary rudimentary, with a 

 many-cleft stigma. Fertile fl. Stamens none. Ovary globose : stigma nearly sessile, 

 somewhat peltate, with 6-9 laciniate rays. Fruit globose, with 6-9 nucules. — Low 

 shrubby plants, with the habit of the order. Berries black or red. 



1. Empetrum nigrum, Linn. Common Crowberry. 



Procumbent ; leaves linear-oblong ; berries black. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 1022 ; Engl. hot. 

 t. 526 ; Michx. ft. 2. p. 255 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 93 ; Bigel.fl. Bost. p. 365 ; Torr. compend. 

 p. 372 ; Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 140. 



Much branched and diffuse. Leaves crowded, dark green, about three lines long, obtuse, 

 thick ; the margins so much revolute as to meet at the back ; the spurious margins rather 

 acute, rough. Flowers very small, axillary towards the summit of the branches, purplish. 

 Stamens exserted. Fruit the size of a peppercorn. 



Summit of Mount Marcy and Mount Mclntyre, Essex county ; also on the highest parts 

 of the Whiteface Mountain (Dr. Emmons $ Prof. Hall). Fl. End of June. Fr. August. 

 This species occurs also on the White Hills, and in the colder parts of British America. It 

 seems to be identical with the European plant. 



