_Heath Family_
In our species, shrubs with simple leaves and perfect flowers; calyx
free from the ovary 4—5-parted, mostly persistent; corolla regular,
4—5-toothed, -lobed or -parted; stamens usually as many or twice as
many as the corolla lobes; anthers 2-celled, attached to the filaments
by the back or base, the sacs, often prolonged upwardly into tubes;
ovary 2—5-celled; fruit a capsule, berry or drupe.
Fruit a berry or drupe.
Calyx becoming large and fleshy. =Gaultheria.=
Calyx small.
Leaves thick and leathery; drupe reddish-brown.
=Arctostaphylos.=
Leaves membranous, veiny; drupe scarlet. =Mairania.=
Fruit a dry capsule.
Anther cells each with a recurved tip. =Cassiope.=
Anther cells not appendaged.
Corolla with united petals.
Bracts firm, persistent; no scaly leaf-buds.
Leaves heath-like; corolla without pouches.
=Phyllodoce.=
Leaves lanceolate; corolla with pouches. =Kalmia.=
Bracts thin, deciduous; leaf-buds scaly.
Corolla funnel-form, 5-lobed. =Azaleastrum.=
Corolla globose, 4-toothed. =Menziesia.=
Corolla with distinct petals.
Flowers white, umbelled; leaves evergreen. =Ledum.=
[Illustration: _a_ Oxycoccus oxycoccus (L.) MacM. Small Cranberry.
_b_ Gaultheria ovatifolia A. Gray. Ovate-Leaved Wintergreen.
_c_ Vitis-idæa vitis-idæa (L.) Britton. Mountain Cranberry. (¾ Nat.)]
[Sidenote: =Gaultheria ovatifolia= A. Gray. _Ovate-leaved Wintergreen._]
Depressed, trailing, with ascending branches with rusty hairs. Leaves
broadly ovate, ½—1 inch long, serrulate, dark green and shining above,
lighter beneath. Flowers pink or nearly white, campanulate, less than ¼
of an inch long, on short solitary pedicels in the axils of the leaves;
fruit bright scarlet, ⅓ of an inch in diameter.
A rather rare plant in the region but abundant in places on the slopes
of Avalanche Mountain at Glacier.
[Sidenote: =Gaultheria humifusa= (Graham) Rydb. _Low Wintergreen._]
Tufted, creeping or depressed, smooth, the flowering branches 1—5
inches long. Leaves oval or rounded, mostly only ½ an inch long;
pedicels solitary in the axils, very short, 3—5 bracteolate. Flowers
depressed-campanulate, white or pinkish, little surpassing the calyx;
fruit scarlet, ⅓ of an inch in diameter.
Common in alpine meadows throughout the Rockies and Selkirks; flowering
in July.
[Sidenote: =Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi= (L.) _Spreng. Bear-berry._]
Trailing or spreading on the ground; branches 6—24 inches long, the
twigs soft-hairy. Leaves leathery, evergreen, spatulate, obtuse,
entire, smooth or minutely hairy toward the base, ½—1 inch long, ⅓
as wide, short-petioled. Flowers ¼ of an inch or less long, ovoid,
constricted at the throat, rosy pink or white, few, in short racemes at
the ends of the branches.
In dry sandy or stony soil throughout the Rockies at the lower
elevations; flowering in early June.
[Sidenote: =Mairania alpina= (L.) Desv. _Alpine Bear-berry._]
Tufted or depressed-prostrate, branches 2—5 inches high, the twigs
smooth or nearly so. Leaves thin, obovate, crenulate, conspicuously
reticulate-veined, ½—1 inch long, ⅓ as wide. Flowers few, appearing
before or with the leaves from scaly buds; corolla ¼ of an inch long,
white, ovoid, constricted at the throat; berry bright scarlet.
Growing in moss on the wooded slopes throughout the Rockies, flowering
in May and early June.
[Sidenote: =Cassiope Mertensiana= (Bong.) Don. _White Heath._]
Rather stout with rigid, ascending, woody, much branched stems, a foot
or less high. Leaves ½ an inch long, smooth, not furrowed on the back,
closely crowded in 4-ranks. Flowers pure white, nodding, campanulate,
¼ of an inch long with 5 deeply cut obtuse spreading lobes, on smooth
peduncles half an inch or less long, near the tips of the apparently
4-sided stems; calyx smooth, usually red, making the bell-like flowers
appear red and white.
Throughout the region at the higher elevations, frequently carpeting
the ground; flowering in late June and early July.
[Sidenote: =Phyllodoce glanduliflora= (Hook.) Coville. _White
False-heather._]
Stems rather rigid, much branched, 3—12 inches high. Leaves numerous
and crowded but spreading, linear, oblong, obtuse, ¼—½ an inch long,
thick, leathery with a white line through the centre below and deeply
furrowed above, the margins thick and rough. Flowers ovoid, glandular
throughout, less than ¼ of an inch long, much contracted at the throat,
short-lobed, on glandular pedicels ½—1 inch long at the ends of the
branches.
In alpine meadows and woods at the higher elevations throughout the
region; flowering during June and early July, often in clumps of
considerable size.
[Sidenote: =Phyllodoce intermedia= (Hook.) Rydb. _Pink False-heather._]
Much branched, from a more or less decumbent base, 6—12 inches high.
Leaves linear, ¼—½ an inch long, obtuse, leathery, with thickened
revolute, slightly glandular-toothed margins. Flowers pale pink, ¼ of
an inch long, urn-shaped, slightly contracted at the throat, with 5
spreading lobes; at the ends of the branches on glandular pedicels ½—1
inch long; calyx slightly glandular; corolla smooth; slightly fragrant.
Throughout the region growing in the same situations as the other
heathers, and often associated with them, perhaps a hybrid; flowering
in late June and through July.
[Illustration: _a_ Phyllodoce empetriformis (Smith) Don. Red
False-Heather.
_b_ Phyllodoce glanduliflora (Hook.) Rydb. White False-Heather.
_c_ Cassiope Mertensiana (Bong.) Don.
(¾ Nat.)]
[Sidenote: =Phyllodoce empetriformis= (Smith) D. Don. _Red
False-heather._]
Much branched from the base, 6—12 inches high. Leaves linear, obtuse,
¼—½ an inch long, with strongly revolute, thick rough margins. Flowers
¼ of an inch long, bright rose-colour, campanulate, with broad,
spreading obtuse lobes, very fragrant, on slender, slightly glandular
pedicels ½—1 inch long at the ends of the stems; calyx and corolla
smooth.
Abundant throughout the region at the higher elevations, in the same
situations as the two previous species and flowering with them during
late June and early July.
[Sidenote: =Kalmia microphylla= (Hook.) Heller. _Small-leaved Swamp
Laurel._]
A smooth shrub, 2—6 inches high with erect or ascending branches,
the twigs 2-edged. Leaves opposite, short petioled, less than ½ an
inch long, oblong or ovate, obtuse, narrowed at the base, the margins
revolute. Flowers on slender pedicels 1—1½ inches long, few in simple
umbels terminating the branches; corolla saucer-shaped, bright rosy
pink about ½ an inch in diameter.
Frequent in mossy alpine bogs and meadows throughout the region at the
higher altitudes; flowering during June and early July.
[Sidenote: =Azaleastrum albiflorum= (Hook.) Rydb. _White Rhododendron._]
A shrub with stems 2—6 feet high, with slender hairy branches more or
less glandular when young, nearly smooth with age. Leaves, thin, light
green and shining above, paler beneath, oblong, 1—2 inches long, with
slightly wavy margins. Flowers white, nearly an inch broad, open, with
5-spreading lobes; on short nodding stems in numerous clusters of 1—3
near the ends of the branches, on wood of the previous year; sepals
nearly ½ an inch long and leaf-like, filaments bearded at the base;
stigma peltate, 5-lobed.
On the wooded hillsides at the higher elevations through the Rockies,
but much lower in the Selkirks; flowering in June and July.
[Illustration: Ledum grœnlandicum Œder. (⅔ Nat.) Labrador Tea.]
[Illustration: Azaleastrum albiflorum (Hook.) Rydb. (½ Nat.) White
Rhododendron.]
[Sidenote: =Menziesia ferruginea= Smith. _Smooth Menziesia._]
A shrub 2—6 feet high, twigs more or less chaffy. Leaves obovate,
obtuse and glandular-tipped at the apex, pale, glaucous and smooth or
very nearly so beneath, sparingly hairy above, ¾—1½ inches long, the
margins ciliolate. Flowers 1—5 on glandular pedicels ½—1 inch long in
spreading umbels, becoming erect, corolla ¼ of an inch long, cream
and pink or salmon, urn-shaped, with 4 spreading teeth; stamens 8,
included, with hairy filaments.
Throughout the region in moist woods and slopes; flowering during June.
[Sidenote: =Ledum Grœnlandicum Œder.= _Labrador Tea._]
A shrub 1—4 feet high, with twigs densely rusty woolly. Leaves oblong,
obtuse, 1—2 inches long, ¼—½ an inch wide, green and deeply veined
above, densely brown woolly beneath, the margins strongly revolute.
Flowers numerous, white, nearly ½ an inch broad in close umbels or
corymbs; petals 5, narrow, spreading.
Abundant throughout the region at the lower altitudes in bogs and
swamps; flowering during June.