THE HEATH FAMILY 
[ORDER XLIV. ERICACEAE] 
CALYX of 4 or 5 SEPALS, which are 
wholly free from the seedcase, united at 
the base and separating into 4 or 5 lobes, 
remaining with the fruit (persistent), in- 
serted below the seedcase (inferior). 
COROLLA of 4 or s PETALS, usually 
urn-shaped (urceolate) or bell-shaped (cam- 
panulate) with 4 or 5 lobes, inserted below 
the seedcase (hypogynous). 
STAMENS 8-10, with their anthers 2-celled 
and opening at the top by 2 pores, rarely 
by slits, often spurred on the back, inserted 
with the corolla, or slightly adhering to its 
base, below the seedcase (hypogynous). 
PISTIL, usually of 4 or 5 CARPELS, 
united into a seedcase (ovary), a simple 
style, and stigma. 
FRUIT a capsule, opening by valves, or a 
berry, 3-5-celled, many-seeded, situated 
above the insertion of the calyx, corolla, 
and stamens (superior). 
FLOWERS in small terminal clusters 
(racemes) or in the axils of the leaves. 
STEMS woody. 
LEAVES, often evergreen, generally oppo- 
site, in pairs, sometimes with more than 
one pair in a circle (whorl). 
DISTINGUISHED from all other Families 
with united sepals and petals by the inser- 
tion of the calyx, corolla, and stamens 
below the seedcase ; by the anthers usually 
opening by pores at the apex ; and by the 
superior fruit with the withered calyx at its 
base. 
T HE Heath Family is easily recognised from those nearest akin to it by the stamens, usually 
opening to free the pollen by pores situated at the apex of the anthers, and by the 
fruit, which is always superior, with the withered calyx at the base. 
The species are found widely distributed over both hemispheres. Heath (Erica) and 
Heather (Calluna) have, like so many of the last family (Vacciniaceae), a “ social habit,” 
and cover large districts, especially thriving on mountains and high moorlands. The beautiful 
Ericas cultivated in greenhouses are natives of South Africa, where they cover vast areas of 
ground and make beautiful otherwise desolate places. Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and Kalmias 
are natives of America. Loiseleuria or — though it is not a true Azalea — Azalea procumbens, 
as it is again called, has a wide distribution : it is found in the Arctic regions, in Scotland, and 
on mountains in central and southern Europe. In Australia the Heath tribe is not represented, 
its place being taken by the Epacridaceae, an order similar in all essentials and only differing 
in the structure of the anthers, which are 1 -celled and open down the centre by 2 valves. 
Different genera of this tribe cover and glorify the hills and wastes of Australia as our Heaths 
and Heather transform our quiet mountain-sides into a splendour of purple and red. Many genera 
are cultivated in greenhouses, the Heath-like Epacrises, Styphelias, Diacophyllums, and 
Leucopogons. 
Except for the beauty of the flowers very few members of this family have any 
special value. Some species of Kalmia and Azalea possess poisonous narcotic properties ; 
