74 PITTONIA. 
VACCINIUM (with bluish foliage) is the only truly 
Alpine huckleberry to be found here. Its habitat is appar 
ently the mountain slopes and meadows above the general 
timber line, though I have occasionally found it on marsh 
borders. The fruit is sweet and luscious and is greatly rel- 
ished by the natives, who eat it in the fresh state. 
RUBUS SPECTABILIS (Salmon Berry) is sometimes found 
along the beach and in open places where the heavy timber 
has from any cause been removed ; but its favorite habitat 
appears to be the rich bottom lands along creeks, where 1i 
grows from 3 to 7 or 8 feet high, forming dense thickets, 
sometimes mingled with alder, viburnum, and devil's club, 
when it forms a thorny and almost impenetrable tangle, 
through which the explorer will find it almost impossible to — 
make headway in any other way except by crouching and — 
following the trail made by the bear, which burrows a tun- — 
nel-like path through it. The fruit varies in color from very 
light to dark red. In shady canyons it is rather insipid, à 
but on sunny slopes the flavor is good; in fact, my expel! — 
ence has been that a sunny season improves the flavor of 
all the fruit in Alaska. This kind more closely resembles | 
the raspberry than the blackberry in being readily detach - 
able from the receptacle when ripe, and is well liked by the 
natives, who eat it both fresh and mixed with seal or ulikon 
oil, but do not keep it for winter use. | 
_ RUBUS CHAMAEMORUS is plentiful in the sphagnous marshes, _ 
which appear to be its home. It flowers about the first of 
June, fruiting in early August. The fruit is of good flavor 
during a dry or sunny season; but a succession of rainy - 
days about the time of ripening causes it to become insipid. ; 
It is even more easily detached from the receptacle than 1$ - 
that of R. spectabilis; consequently to make satisfactory - 
fruiting specimens for the herbarium is difficult. It always s 
flowers abundantly, but some seasons fruits very sparingly» - 
perhaps because of frost at the time of flowering. - : 
