ERICACE^. 21 



Eootstock creeping. Stems filiform, prostrate, rooting at the 

 base, much branched. Leaves very shortly stalked, ovate or lan- 

 ceolate or elliptical, with rather broad revolute margins, entire, 

 acute, deep shining - green above, glaucous beneath, glabrous. 

 Plowers drooping, solitary or 2 to 5 together. Peduncles 1-flowered, 

 erect, elongate, slender, pubescent, at length glabrous, springing 

 from the extremity of the branches, with ovoid hooded scales at 

 the base, and 2 small subscarious oblanceolate bracteoles below 

 the middle. Calyx 4-toothed, with the teeth semicircular, cili- 

 ated. Corolla rotate, 4-partite, with the lobes oblong-strapshaped, 

 reflexed. Anther-cells produced into 2 long tubes, with pores at 

 the apex, without awns. Berry red. 



In wet bogs. Rather thinly but widely distributed over the 

 whole of Britain ; most plentiful in the North of England and 

 South of Scotland, extending North to Aberdeen, Eastern Boss, 

 and Renfrewshire. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Shrub. Late Summer. 



Stems wiry, varying in length, creeping amongst Sphagnum, 

 with small spreading coriaceous evergreen leaves, rarely more than 

 J inch long. Pedicels f to IJ inch long, red. Corolla scarcely 

 J inch long, dark-rose. Eilaments very short, pubescent, purplish. 

 Berries about the size of a red currant, but of a deeper colour. 

 Plant glabrous, except the shoots of the year and the pedicels. 



Marsh Cranheri^. 



French, Airelle Ganneherge. German, Moosheere. 



The specific name of this plant appears to have been derived from two Greek 

 words, o^vQ (oxus), sharp, and kokkoq (kokJcos), a berry, in reference to the sharp and acid 

 taste of the berries. The common name Cranberry may have originated in the fact 

 that the peduncles of the flowers are crooked at the top, and before the expansion 

 of the flowers resemble the head and neck of a crane ; or it may be that the 

 fruit is much eaten by cranes in the low marshy spots where it grows. From very 

 ancient times Cranberries have been used for culinary purposes. In summer they form 

 a cool and refreshing drink, and in winter they are made into tarts and -pies. Large 

 quantities of the fruit are imported from Kussia and Sweden packed in tubs : those 

 grown there are larger and of a brighter colour than ours, and possess less of a medicinal 

 flavour. During the latter part of the last century, Cranberries from Lincolnshire and 

 the north-west corner of Norfolk were sold in the streets of Norwich by cartloads ; 

 but the agricultural improvements in these counties have destroyed their native bogs, 

 and we now seldom see English Cranberries in the market. 



M'Culloch tells us that from Russia and America we annually import from 30,000 

 to 35,000 gallons of Cranberries. The berries are powerfully acid and astringent, and 

 have a peculiar flavour very much liked by some people. If carefully bottled, Cran- 



