CHAP. CXIV. 



i:MPETUA^CEjT:, E'lVIPE'lUUM. 



2507 



Desa-'iption, S)-c. Small evergreen heath-like shrubs, natives of Europe and 

 South America. Propagated by cuttings or seeds, and thiiving best in peat 

 soil. 



a. 1. -B. NIGRUM L. The black Crowberry, or Cralehern/. 



Identification. Lin. Sp. PI., 1450. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4, p. 713. ; Fl. Br., 1072. ; Eng. Bot., t. .62fi. ; 



Hook. Scot., 287. ; Mill. llUist., t. 86. ; Fl. Dan., t. 975. ; Dicks. H. Sice, fasc, 2. 10. ; Eng. Fl., 



4. p. 23.3. ; Mackav Fl. Hibern., p. 238. ; Hook. Br. Fl., p. 431. ; Liiidl. Synop., p. 224. ; Loiid. 



Cat., ed. 183H. 

 Synonymes. E. monti\iHim fri'ictu nlgro Rait Syn., 444. ; E. No. 160.?., HnlL Helv., 2. p. 279. ; 



JEnca Matth. J'algr., 1. p. 139. ; ^rlca baccifera Cam. Epit., p. 77., C/us. Pan., p. 49., Da/ec/i. 



Hist., p. 188., Bnu/i. Hist., 1. p. 52fi. j E. coccifera prociimbens Ger. Emac, p. 1383.; E. C6ris 



folio undecima Clus. Hist., 1 p. 4.5. 

 Engravi)igs. Eng. Bot., t. 52(1. ; Mill. lUust., t. 86.; Fl. Dan., t. 975.; our /g. 2375. to our usual 



scale; and J?g^. 2376. of the natural size. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves linear-oblong. Berries black and clustered. {Hook.) 



A procumbent shrub, a native of Britain. 

 Variety. 



a- E. n. 2 scoticum Hook. Br. Fl., p. 431., is somewhat smaller than the 

 species. 



Description, Sfc. A small, procumbent, 

 much-branched shrub ; the outer bark of 

 which is deciduous and brown, but the 

 inner bark is yellow. The branches are 

 rough with the remains of the petioles of 

 the fallen leaves. The leaves are in fours, 

 somewhat 3-cornered, with a white linear 

 keel, and petioled; and they have their 

 margins so much recurved as to meet be- 

 hind. The flowers are axillary towards the 

 summits of the branches, small, and pur- 

 plish, with a whitish calyx. The berries 



are of the size and colour of juniper berries, but become of a brownish 

 black when ripe. They are marked at top with a small round hole, and pro- 

 tected at bottom by the persistent calyx. The flesh 

 is rather firm, and of a pale green, except in the 

 centre, where it is purplish. The receptacle is co- 

 lumnar, and slender ; and from 6 to 9 bony pale- 

 coloured seeds are fixed round it in a ring, and 

 attached to it a little above the base. This species is 

 a native of the north of Europe, generally in elevated 

 situations, both on dry and barren, and on moorish or 



23 75 



boggy, soils. It is found in moors, from the Baltic to 

 the Eastern Ocean, in Kamtschatka, and in the islands 

 towards America. According to Linnjeus, it will live 

 on the mountains of Lapland, where other plants 

 perish with cold. It is found in Warwickshire, Staf- 

 fordshire, Derbyshire, and the northern counties of 

 England, and abundantly in Scotland. The Scotch 

 Highlanders and the Russian peasants eat the berries, 

 which are esteemed antiscorbutic and diuretic. Urouse and heatlicocks 

 feed on them ; and, boiled in alum water, they afford a dark purple dye. 

 Linnzeus mentions that the Laplanders use them for dyeing otter and 

 sable skins black. Cattle do not browse on this shrub. The crowberry is 

 the badge of the clan M'Lean. The .B'mpetrum nigrum thrives very well in 

 gardens, but it requires a moist boggy soil, and a shady situation. The seeds 

 remain a year in the ground before they vegetate, and the plants are very 

 slow in their growth. {Mart. Mill., and Hook. Brit. Fl.) 



Irffntifirafioii. 



«- 2. E. RU^BRUM L. The red-fruited Crowberry. 



Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 713, ; Lindl. Bot. Reg., t. 1783. 



