Ericaceae
(Heath Family.)
Mostly shrubs. Flowers regular. Calyx growing from the ovary, 4 to 6 lobed. Corolla of one petal with the same number of lobes as the calyx. Stamens twice as many as the tubes of the corolla. Fruit a berry crowned by the remains of the calyx, containing many small seeds. Leaves alternate, undivided.
Cassandra Calyculata.---Leather leaf. Low shrub with mealy evergreen leaves which are scurfy underneath. Flowers white, in the axils of the upper leaves, forming one-sided leafy racemes. Flower buds are formed in the summer and expand in the early spring.
Kalmia Angustifolia.---Evergreen shrubs. Leaves opposite, whitish underneath. Flowers in lateral corymbs. Corolla wheel-shaped with ten depressions in which ten stamens are lodged.
Kalmia Glauca.---Differs from the last in having the corymbs terminal.
Arctostaphyllis Uva-Ursi.---Bearberry. Trailing. Leaves smooth and evergreen, alternate. Flowers nearly white. Fruit red.
Andromeda Polifolia.---Rosemary. Leaves thick, with margins turned back. Shrub 6 to 18 inches high. Flowers white, in a terminal umbel.
Rhodora Canadensis.---Low shrub with oblong leaves, whitish and downy underneath. Flowers rose-purple, in umbel-like clusters, appearing early in the spring, before the leaves. Corolla iregular[sic], 2-lipped.
Ledum Latifolium.---Labrador tea. Low shrubs. Leaves alternate, covered with rusty wool underneath. Flowers in terminal umbel-like clusters.
Vaccinium Uliginosum.---Whorts, low and spreading. 4 to 18 inches high. Leaves entire and slightly hairy underneath. Flowers one, two, or three from a scaly bud. Berries black, sweet, covered with bloom.
Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea.---Partridge berry. Leaves with revolute margins, dark green. Berries red, mealy.
Vaccinium Oxycoccus.---Marshberry. Marshes. Stems very slender protraste. Root wiry. Flowers crimson. Segments bent back in a very distinctive manner. Berries speckled.
Vaccinium Pennsylvanicum.---Whort, 6 to 15 inches high. Leaves oblong with bristle-pointed teeth, smooth and shining both sides. Branches angled, green, warty. Berries abundant, blue or black, with a bloom, sweet.
Vaccinium Caespitosum.---Dwarf whort. 3 to 5 inches high. Leaves narrowed at the base, smooth and shining, serrate. Corolla oblong. Flowers solitary on short axillary peduncles, nodding.
Chiogenes Hispidula.---Capillaire. A trailing evergreen, sometimes mistaken for Linnaea, but leaves are much smaller. Flowers are very small one in the exils of the leaves. Plant aromatic. Berries bright white. Grows in the shade of firs.
Pyrola Uniflora.---Wintergreen. Leaves nearly round. Flowers solitary, drooping, very fragrant. Leaves clustered at the bottom of the stem. Found in deep woods.
Pyrola Rotundifolia.---Like the last but many-flowered.
