844 IHE WHINBEKBY FAMILY. 



The species abound in all the temperate parts of the world, espe- 

 cially in swampy and subalpine districts. The bark and leaves are 

 astringent ; the fruit is sub-acid, and pleasant to eat when cooked. 

 Cranberries, bilberries, and whortlebeiTies, or whinberries, are well 

 known and valuable in the latter respect ; while many others form 

 pretty shrubs for garden ornament. Four grow wild in England, and 

 three of them near Manchester. 



A. 

 Corolla bell-shaped or urn-shaped. 



1. Flowers solitary in the axils of the leaves. Leaves ovate,* 



pointed, with little teeth, nearly sessile, and deciduous. Whinbekhy 

 Stems numerous, branched, very angulai-, six to foiu'teen h or 



inches high. Corolla nearly globular, greenish -red. Berry Whortlebekby. 

 nearly black ; ' 



2. Flowers several together, pale flesh-colour, in short, dense, \ 



terminal, drooping racemes. Leaves obovate, resembling I 

 those of the box-tree and evergreen. Stem much branched, [ 

 procumbent, and straggling. Berries red / 



B. 

 Corolla deeply divided into four lobes, which are bent back, so as to expose the 

 stamens. 



3. Stems prostrate, as fine as horse-hair, ten to twenty inches-^ 



long, growing in dense matted tufts. Leaves oval, minute, 

 entire, evergreen, gray underneath. Peduncles terminal, 

 one-flowered, the flowers not more than two or three inches 

 above the ground, and of a beautiful bright rose-colour. 

 Berries red. (Fig. 180.) 



-Cranbehry. 



HABITATS AND LOCALITIES. 



1. Whinbekky or Whortlebekry — {Vaccinium Myrtlllus.) 



Moors, heaths, mountains, and dry woods, everywhere. One of the 



principal plants of the hills where sportsmen go for grouse. Plentiful 



on Alderley Edge, and in Mere Clough. Fl. April, May. Berries 



ripe in July. 



E. B. vii. 450. 



The berries are the " whimberries " of the market-place. 



2. Cowberry — {Vaccinium Vitis-Idcea.) 

 On all the hills where sportsmen go. Abundant on Kinder Scout, 

 Fo-edge, Cobdcn Edge, and on Ashworth Moor, above the fir-wood, 

 looking over Summerseat. Fl. May, June. 



E. B. ix. 6!)«; Baxter, V. 383. 



