XX. 8. THE COMMON BEAR BERRY. 381 



hybernate in our climate, gives it its most common name. It 

 is also called Chequer Berry, Box Berry, Ivory Plum and 

 Mountain Tea. The whole plant has a pleasant, aromatic 

 flavor, similar to that of the black birch. 



The leaves are sometimes employed as a substitute for tea, 

 or added to communicate an agreeable flavor. An essence and 

 an oil are extracted from the plant, which possess, in a high 

 degree, the astringent, warming and tonic properties of the 

 leaves. An infusion of the leaves has been successfully em- 

 ployed to restore the action of the breast, when that fountain 

 had been dried up. 



This plant is found from Quebec, in Canada, to the moun- 

 tains of Carolina. 



XX. 8. THE BEAR BERRY. ARCTOSTA'PHYLOS. 



Adanson. 



A genus of twelve or thirteen species of low shrubs with alter- 

 nate leaves, terminal, bracteate racemes of white or flesh-colored 

 flowers, and red or black fruit, natives of North America, chiefly 

 the mountains of Mexico, and rocky woods and sunny mountain 

 tops of northern Europe and Asia. Calyx five-parted, persist- 

 ent ; corolla ovate-pitcher-shaped, with a short five-toothed, re- 

 flexed mouth. Stamens ten ; filaments hairy, dilated at the 

 base; anthers compressed, opening by two pores at the apex, 

 with two reflexed awns on the sides ; ovary depressed-globose, 

 girt with three fleshy scales ; style short ; stigma obtuse ; drupe 

 globose, five-, six-, nine- or ten-celled ; cells one-seeded. 



The Common Bear Berry. A. uva w~si. Sprengel. 



Figured in Bigelow's Medical Botany, I, Plate 6. 



A shrubby, evergreen plant, trailing upon the ground or on 

 rocks, and forming large, close mats, on dry, sandy plains or 

 rocky hills. Stem woody, with a grayish bark, which peels off 

 in patches. Young shoots ascending, clothed with a brown- 

 ish, downy bark. Leaves crowded towards the end of the 

 branches, alternate, inversely egg-shaped, obtuse at the end, 

 wedge-shaped at base, smooth on both surfaces, shining above, 



