i8o 



COROLLIFLOR.E 



and bark are astringent, the berries slightly acrid and agreeable 

 to the taste. Under the name of Cranberries the fruit of Schollera 

 Occycoccus and S. macrocarpus are imported from Russia and 

 North America respectively, and are used for making tarts. Many 

 species are cultivated in gardens, more, however, for their pretty 

 flowers than for the sake of their fruit. 



i. Vaccinium (Whortleberry, Cranberry, etc.). Calyx 4 to 

 5-lobed, sometimes with the lobes so shallow as to be scarcely per- 

 ceptible ; corolla bell-shaped, or wheel-shaped, 4 to 5-cleft ; sta- 

 mens 8-10 ; berry globose, 4 to 5-celled, many-seeded. (Name 

 Df doubtful etymology.) 



1. Vaccinium {Whortleberry, Cranberry, etc.) 

 Leaves not evergreen ; anthers with two bristles at the back 



1. V. myrtillus (Whortleberry, Bilberry, 

 Whinberry). A small branched shrub, 

 with acutely-angled stems, 6-18 inches 

 high ; leaves egg-shaped, serrated ; flowers 

 solitary, drooping, nearly globular, flesh- 

 coloured, wax-like ; berries black, covered 

 with grey bloom. They are agreeable to 

 the taste, and are often made into tarts ; 

 but when thus used are rather mawkish 

 unless mixed with some more acid fruit. 

 They are popularly known by the name 

 of whorts. Heathy and mountainous 

 places ; abundant. Fl. May. Shrub. 



2. V. uliginosum (Bog Whortleberry, or 

 Great Bilberry). Stem not angular; leaves 

 inversely egg-shaped, entire, glaucous, and 

 veined beneath. Distinguished from the 

 last by its more woody, rounded stem, and 

 by its strongly veined, glaucous leaves, 

 which are broader towards the extremity. 

 The flowers are smaller and grow nearer 

 together. Mountainous bogs in Scotland 



and the north of England. FL May. Shrub. 



Vaccinium Myrtillus 

 (Whortleberry, Whinberry) 



Leaves evergreen ; anthers without bristles 



3. V. vitis idcea (Red Whortleberry, Cowberry). A low, strag- 

 gling shrub, with inversely egg-shaped leaves resembling those of 

 the box ; dotted beneath, and the margins rolled back ; the flowers 

 are pink with 4 deep lobes, and are borne in terminal drooping 

 clusters ; the berries red. Monntp^rious heaths in the north. 

 Fl. May, June. Shrub. 



