CLASS X. ORDER II.l SCLERANTHUS. 595 



2. A. uva ursif Spreng. (Fig. 674.) Red Bear-hemj. Stem pro- 

 cumbent ; leaves obovate. entire, evergreen, smooth, netted with veins ; 

 racemes short, terminal. 



Lindley, Synopsis, p. 174. — Arbutus uva ursi, Linn, — English 

 Botany, t. 714.— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 253.— Hooker, British 

 Flora, vol. i. p. 193. 



A small trailing shrub, with round smooth long slender branches, 

 very leafy. Leaves oblong, or obovate, evergreen, alternate, tapering 

 at the base into a short footstalk, of a leathery texture, quite smooth, 

 dark green above, paler beneath, with a mid-rib and much netted 

 veins, the margins entire, somewhat rolled back, very finely downy, as 

 well as the young shoots. Inflorescence in short terminal racemes, of 

 a few crowded beautiful pale rose-coloured Jlowers. Corolla oblong, 

 contracted at the mouth with a fine cleft limb, of short teeth. Calyx 

 of five short ciliated segments. Stamens with short filaments, smooth, 

 dilated at the base. Anthers two -celled, with lateral openings, crowned 

 with two reflexed awns. Style short. Stigmas obtuse. Fruit a 

 globose berry, depressed at the top, smooth, of a scarlet colour, mealy, 

 with five single seeded cells, of a very astringent austere taste. 



Habitat. — Dry heathy and rocky places in alpine districts in the 

 North of England and Ireland, but most abundant in the Highlands 

 and Western Isles of Scotland. 



Shrub ; flowering in May. 



The leaves of the red Bear-berry possess bitter astringent and de- 

 mulcent properties ; when fresh dried, they have the odour, but not 

 the taste, of Hyson tea. It had long been used as a medicine, but fell 

 into disuse, until it was again brought into notice about the middle of 

 the last century, and has since been used with benefit in the form of 

 a powder of the leaves, and their infusion or decoction alone, or in 

 combination with alkalies, as a remedy in irritable, ulcerated, or calcu- 

 lous affections of the urinary organs. In Russia the leaves are reported 

 to be used in the process of tanning leather. The berries are astrin- 

 gent, with an unpleasant austere taste, but are excellent food for Moor 

 game. 



ORDER II. 



DIGY'NIA. 2 Pistils. 



GENUS VI. SCLERANTHUS.— Linn. Knaivel. 



Nat. Ord. Scleran'the^. Link. 



Gen. Char. Perianth single, with an urceolate tube, and five toothed 

 limb. Stamens inserted into the perianth, often abortive. Fruit 

 a single seeded utricule, covered with the hardened tube of the 



