Mt T7ie British Naturalist, 



it is much better. The fruit is single, upon the top of a footstalk, and in 

 form, size, and colour [!] it is not unlike the mulberry, after which it is 

 partly named ; but in flavour, taking the place where it is found into con- 

 sideration, it is superior to all the mulberries that ever grew." (p. 62.) 



This is surely rather a high-flown encomium on the cloud- 

 berry 5 nor is it correct to compare the fruit in size and 

 colour, and still less, we think, in flavour, to its half name- 

 sake, the mulberry. We have ourselves slaked our thirst, 

 ere now, with this ethereal lierry, when exploring the snow- 

 capped summits of the Scottish mountains, and well know how 

 grateful to the palate, and how refreshing, on such occasions, 

 even a far inferior fruit may prove. More frequently have we 

 been regaled, from the garden, with the high-flavoured and 

 fragrant berry of J?ubus arcticus ; a berry so fragrant, indeed, 

 that if a few only be gathered in a saucer, and brought into 

 the house, they perfume almost the whole room. * And we 

 must say that, to us at least, this latter fruit, when put in com- 

 petition with its rival, is, in point of flavour, as " Hyperion to 

 a satyr." Could it be readily produced in sufficient quanti- 

 ties, it would form a valuable addition to our desserts ; and in 



" occurrit copiose per Lapponiam desertam, prsesertim ad tuguria et casas 

 liapponum ? " (Flora Lapponica.) " It grows abundantly in the wild parts 

 of Lapland, especially near the huts and cottages of the Laplanders." 

 Again, in his Lapland Tour, he says, " I wish those who deny that certain 

 plants are peculiar to certain countries could see how abundantly the birch, 

 the Lapland willow, the strawberry-leaved bramble (i^ubus arcticus), &c., 

 flourish in this district [Pithpea]." (Lachesis Lapponica, vol. i. p. 203.) 



* " Baccae omnibus Europaeis fructibus fragranti odore saporeque palmam 

 praeripiunt." {Linncei Flora Suecica.) " The berries [of ^ubus arcticus] 

 surpass all European fruits in fragrance of scent and flavour." 



The editor of the Lapland Tour (Sir J. E. Smith), speaking of J?ubus 

 Chamaemorus, observes, in a note : " The arcticus is a much more valuable 

 plant for its fruit, which partakes of the flavour of the raspberry and straw- 

 berry, and makes a most delicious wine, used only by the nobility in 

 Sweden." (Vol. i. p. 52.) " Confici curant magnates per Norlandiam e 

 baccis syrupum, gelatinam, vinum rubeatum, &c., quae partim ab illis ipsis 

 consumuntur, partim Holmiam ad araicos mittuntur, tanquam bellaria sua- 

 vissima, rarissimaque ; et sane inter omnes baccas Sueciae sylvestres videntur 

 hae tenere primas." (Fl. Lap.) " The nobility in Norlandia cause to be 

 made of the berries syrup, jelly, bramble wine, &c., which are partly con- 

 sumed by themselves, and partly sent to their friends at Stockholm, as the 

 most choice and delicious dainties ; and, indeed, among all the wild berries 

 of Sweden, these seem to hold the first place." The pretty compliment 

 Linnaeus pays to this little plant is worthy of being recorded : — " Ingratus 

 essem erga beneficam banc plantam, quae me toties fame et cursu fere pro- 

 stratum vinoso baccarum suarum nectare refocillavit, si ejus integram non 

 exhiberem descriptionem." (Fl. Lap.) " I should be ungrateful towards 

 this excellent plant, which has so often refreshed me with the nectareous 

 juice of its berries, when almost overcome with hunger and fatigue, were I 

 not to give a complete description of it." He then proceeds to give a 

 minute description of the plant and its several parts. 



