Two years later, on the 24th of February 1577, he died suddenly in his new prison at Orbyhus, poisoned, it is said, by his governor, Johan Henriksen. See _Sveriges Historia_, vol. iii. (Stockholm, 1880); Robert Nisbet Bain, _Scandinavia_, cap. 4-6 (Cambridge, 1905); Eric Tegel, _Konung Eriks den XIV. historia_ (Stockholm, 1751). (R. N. B.) ERICACEAE, in botany, a natural order of plants belonging to the higher or gamopetalous division of Dicotyledons. They are woody plants, sometimes with a slender creeping stem as in bilberry, _Vaccinium_ (fig. 1), or _Andromeda_ (fig. 2), or forming low bushes as in the heaths, or larger, sometimes becoming tree-like, as in species of _Rhododendron_. The leaves are alternate, opposite or whorled in arrangement, and in their form and structure show well-marked adaptation for life in dry or exposed situations. Thus in the true heaths they are needle-like, with the margins often rolled back to form a groove or an almost closed chamber on the under side. In others such as _Rhododendron_ or _Arbutus_ they are often leathery and evergreen, the strongly cuticularized upper surface protecting a water-storing tissue situated above the green layers of the leaf. The flowers are sometimes solitary and axillary or terminal as in _Andromeda_, but are generally arranged in racemose inflorescences at the end of the branches as in _Arbutus_ and _Rhododendron_, or on small lateral shoots as in _Erica_. They are hermaphrodite and generally regular with parts in 4 or 5, thus: sepals 4 or 5, petals 4 or 5, stamens 8 or 10 in two series, the outer of which is opposite the petals, and carpels 4 or 5. The corolla is usually more or less bell-shaped, and in the heaths persists in a dry state in the fruit. The petals with the stamens are situated on the outer edge of a honey-secreting disk. The anthers show a very great variety in shape, the halves are often more or less free and often appendaged; they open to allow the escape of the pollen by a terminal pore or slit. The carpels are united to form a 4- to 5-chambered ovary, which bears a simple elongated style ending in a capitate stigma; each ovary-chamber contains one to many ovules attached to a central placenta. The brightly coloured corolla, the presence of nectar and the scent render the flowers attractive to insects, and the projection of the stigma beyond the anthers favours crossing. The fruit is generally a capsule containing many seeds, as in _Erica_ (fig. 3) or _Rhododendron_; sometimes a berry as in _Arbutus_. [Illustration: FIG. 1.--_Vaccinium vitis-idaea_, with leaf and flower, nat. size. 1, Flower of _V. myrtillus_, cut lengthwise. 2, Fruit of same.] [Illustration: FIG. 2.--_Andromeda Hypnoides_, nat. size. 1, Flower; 2, Unripe fruit cut across; 3, Stamen--all enlarged.] [Illustration: FIG. 3.