WHORTLEBERRY 95 



Essential Specific Characters: — 



187. Canipaimla rotundifolia, L. — Stem erect, slender, smooth, 

 radical leaves ovate-cordate, shorter than the petioles, stem-leaves 

 linear-lanceolate, flowers i or more, blue or white, campanulate, in a 

 raceme, lobes of the corolla turbinate. 



Whortleberry (Vaccinium Myrtillus, L.) 



Seeds and other parts of this plant are known from Neolithic 

 deposits in Renfrewshire. Hence it is a fairly ancient species. It is 

 found in Arctic Europe, N. and W. Asia, and N.W. America. In 

 Great Britain it is absent from N. Wilts, N. Essex, Bucks, Suffolk, 

 W. Norfolk, Cambridge, Mid Lanes, Main Argyle, northward to the 

 Shetland Islands, but is general elsewhere. It ascends to an altitude 

 of 4000 feet. It is native in Ireland. 



Whortleberry is a typical heath plant, growing as a rule at a con- 

 siderable altitude, but always under ericetal conditions. Hill-sides, 

 woods, and copses are similar stations for this plant, which loves a 

 subsoil or soil rich in humus, like that of a wood or heath. Whole 

 botanical districts are made up of this species, so that it gives its name 

 to a certain type of association. 



This is a short, shrubby plant, with the stem at first prostrate, then 

 ascending and branched. The stem is smooth, angular, green, ripid. 

 The leaves are egg-shaped, coarsely toothed, falling in autumn, the 

 nerves net-veined. The stems as well as the leaves are capable of 

 assimilation. 



The leafless flower-stalks are i -flowered, the flowers solitary, and 

 pinkish, waxy, greenish, nodding or drooping. The corolla is swollen 

 below, narrow above, with a narrow entrance. The anthers have two 

 brisdes or horns on the back. The fruit is a berry, nearly black or 

 dark-blue, with a greyish bloom, or bluish-green. The calyx-tube is 

 conical. 



The height of the plant is at most 18 in. It is flowering in April, 

 May, and June. The plant is a shrub increased by layers, and worth 

 cultivating. 



It is slightly prolerandrous, the anthers ripening first. The pollen 

 is dry and dust-like. Honey is secreted by an annular ridge resting 

 on the ovary which surrounds the style, which is never moist, and not 

 so smooth as most honey-glands. Honey drops are found on the out- 

 side of the base of each stamen, passing between the anther-stalks and 

 the wall of the corolla. The honey is secreted in abundance in the 



