214 HEATH FAMILY. 



§ 4. Cranberry ; creeping or trailing very slender hardly woody plants, with 



small evergreen leaves whitish beneath, single flowers in summer, home on 



slender erect pedicels, pale rose corolla deeply parted into 4 narrow reflexed 



divisions, 8 anthers with very long tubes but no awns on the back, and acid 



red berry 4-celkd, ripe in autumn. 



V. Oxyc6ccus, Small C. Cold peat-bogs N. & E. : a delicate little plant, 



flowering at the end of the stems, the ovate acute leaves (only 4' long) with 



strongly revolute margins, berry only half as large as in the next, often speckled 



with white, seldom gathered for market. 



V. macrocarpon, Large or American C. Bogs from Virginia N. ; 

 with stems 1° to 3° long, growing on so that the flowers become lateral, ob- 

 long obtuse leaves sometimes ^' long, and with less revolute margins, and 

 berries |' or more long ; largely cultivated for the market E. 



3. CHIOG£3N£jS. (Greek-madoname, alluding to the snow-white berries.) 



C. hispidula. Creeping Snowberry. Cool peat-bogs and low mossy 

 woods N. ; with nearly herbaceous slender creeping stems, very small ovate 

 pointed evergreen leaves, their lower surface and the branchlets beset with rusty 

 bristles, minute axillary flowers in late spring, and white berries ripe in summer : 

 these and the foliage have the flavor of Aromatic Wintergreen. 



4. ERICA, HEATH. (Ancient Greek name.) All belong to the Old 

 World. The Heaths of the conservatories, blooming in winter, belong to 

 various species from Cape of Good Hope. Of the European species one bears 

 the winter well at the North, and is planted, viz. 



E. cornea (in the form called E. herbXcea), of the Alps ; a low under- 

 shrub, witli linear blunt leaves whorled in fours, and rosy or bright flesh-colored 

 flowei's, with narrow corolla rather longer than calyx, in early spring. 



5. CALLUNA, HEATHER, LING. (Name from Greek, to sweep, brooms 

 being made from its twigs in Europe.) 



C. vulgaris, Common H. of North Europe, seldom planted, very sparingly 

 found wild in E. New England and Nova Scotia, &c. : fl. summer. 



6. ARCTOSTAPHYLOS, BEARBERRY (the name in Greek). 



A. Uva-IJrsi, Common B. ; trailing over rocks and bare hills N., forming 

 mats, with thick smooth and entire obovate or spatulate evergreen leaves, and 

 small scaly-bracted nearly white flowers in a short raceme, in early spring, fol- 

 lowed by the red austere berries. Leaves used in medicine, astringent and 

 somewhat mucilaginous. 



7. GAULTHERIA, AROMATIC WINTERGREEN, &c. (Named 

 for Dr. Gaulthier or Gaultier of Quebec, over 130 years ago.) 



G. prociimbens, Creeping W., Boxberry, Checkerberry, &c. ; 



common in evergreen and low woods, spreading by long and slender mostly 

 subterranean runners, sending up stems 3' - 5' high, bearing at summit a few 

 obovate or oval leaves and in summer one or two nodding white flowers in the 

 axils, the edible red " berries " lasting over winter : these and the foliage famil- 

 iar for their spicy flavor, yielding the oil of tvintergreen 



G. Sh^Uon, in the shade of evergreen woods of Oregon, &c., and sparingly 

 planted, a shrub spreading over the ground, with glossy ovate slightly heart- 

 shaped leaves about 3' long, and flowers in racemes. 



8. EPIG.ffiA. (Name in Greek means on the ground, from the growth.) 



E. ripens, Trailing Arbutus, Ground Laurel, or, in New England, 

 Mayflower. Sandy or some rocky woods, chiefly E., under pines, &c. ; pi'os- 



