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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

[Introduction to Order XLII. Ericaceæ.]

Shrubs or small trees, sometimes low and creeping. Leaves usually alternate, sometimes opposite or whorled, rigid, simple, entire "or serrate; stipules wanting. Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Calyx inferior, 4–5-toothed or -cleft. Corolla gamopetalous, hvpogynous, regular, often campanulate or urceolate, 4–5-toothed or -lobed (in some exotic genera divided into 4–5 free petals). Stamens usually double the number of the corolla-lobes, rarely the same number, hypogynous or sometimes adnate to the base of the corolla; filaments free; anthers 2-celled, opening by terminal pores or slits, often furnished with appendages. Ovary superior, 4–5-celled; style simple, terminal; stigma capitate, entire or shortly lobed; ovules usually many, attached to the inner angle of the cell or pendulous from the top of the angle. Fruit a capsule or berry, sometimes enclosed in the enlarged and succulent calyx (Gaultheria). Seeds usually numerous, small; albumen fleshy; embryo straight, axile.

A large order, widely spread over the whole world, especially in temperate and cool regions, but singularly rare in Australia and New Zealand, where its place is taken by the allied family Epacrideœ. In the tropics it is principally found on high mountains. Genera between 50 and 60; species not far from 1200. The properties of the order are unimportant, but it contains some of the most beautiful shrubs cultivated in gardens, as the various kinds of Rhododendron, Azalea, Erica, Arbutus, &c. Of the two genera found in New Zealand, Gaultheria has a wide range in Asia and America, and is also found in Australia; Pernettya is principally South American, but occurs in Tasmania as well.

Fruit dry, capsular, usually enclosed in the enlarged and succulent calyx 1. Gaultheria.
Fruit a berry, calyx persistent at its base, but not fleshy nor enlarged 2. Pernettya.