24 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



elliptical or oval-obovate, obtuse or sub-obtuse, entire, pale glau- 

 cous-green above, very glaucous and netted-veined below, but not 

 dotted witb glands, glabrous. Flowers drooping, solitary or 2 or 3 

 together, apparently lateral, but really at the termination of the 

 branches of the preceding year. Peduncles 1-flowered, rather 

 slender, short, straight, glabrous, surrounded by hooded scarious 

 oval bracts at the base, destitute of bracteoles. Calyx 4- or 

 5-toothed, with the teeth semicircular, glabrous. Corolla ovate- 

 urceolate, with 4 or 5 short ovate reflexed teeth. Anther-cells 

 produced into short tubes at the apex, with 2 curved awns on the 

 back. Berry bluish-black, pruinose-glaucous. 



In bogs and on wet ledges of rocks in mountainous districts in 

 the North of England and Scotland ; rather common in the High- 

 lands, extending from Durham and Westmoreland to Shetland. 



England, Scotland. Shrub. Summer. 



Stems rigid, 6 to 18 incehs high, bare of leaves below. Leaves 

 •J to 1 inch long, sub-coriaceous, deciduous, pale dull glaucous- 

 green, especially beneath, where the veins are glabrous, prominent, 

 and form a network with large meshes. Elowers at the termination 

 of the branches of the preceding season, but usually appearing 

 lateral from the shoot of the year being continued beyond them from 

 a bud close beneath the inflorescence-buds. Peduncles longer than 

 the flowers. Calyx red. Corolla scarcely J inch long, white or pale- 

 rose. Berries about the size of black currants, covered with a bloom 

 like that on the Sloe. Plant glabrous. 



Great Bilberry. 



French, Airelle Veinee. German, Eaicsclibeere. 



The berries of this species have somewhat the flavour of the rest, but, eaten in any 

 quantity, they occasion headache and giddiness. In France they are said to be used 

 for colouring wines red, and in Siberia and Sweden they furnish an ardent spirit by 

 distillation. They afford excellent food to game. The leaves are added to Lycopodium 

 alpinum by the islanders, and a yellow dye for colouring woollens is produced by an 

 infusion of the two plants. 



SPECIES IV.-VACCINIUM MYRTILLUS. Linn. 



Plate DCCCLXXIX. 



Jiekh. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MCLXIX. Fig. 1-3. 

 £iUot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 52. 



E-ootstock creeping. Stems erect or ascending, rather stiff, 

 woody below, much branched. Leaves very shortly stalked, oval 

 or oval-lanceolate, acute, serrate, green on both sides, paler below, 



