VACCINluM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. VALLOTA. 



downy. The abundant blue berries are 

 covered with bloom and very sour, 

 ripening late. The plants grow in well- 

 drained but moist peaty soil, and give fine 

 autumn colour. 



V. CORYMBOSUM (American Blueberry). 

 A spreading shrub of 8 to 10 feet, charm- 

 ing with its small pink flowers in spring and 

 vivid leaf-tints in autumn. The fruits 

 are good and improve with cultivation, 

 the less common white and pink varieties 

 giving pretty colour effects. There are 

 several forms amcenum, with bright green 

 downy leaves ; and pallidum, in which 

 they are pale and glaucous. 



V. HIRSUTUM (Hairy Huckleberry). A 

 beautiful little shrub about a foot high, 

 with long racemes of large greenish-white 

 flowers, and dark blue hairy fruits of 

 refined flavour. In autumn the leaves 

 turn a showy brick - red colour, which 

 endures for several weeks. The plant 

 needs sun and a moist peaty soil. 



V. MACROCARPUM (American Cranberry) . 

 A dwarf evergreen trailing shrub with 

 its long loose stems covered with oval 

 grey-green leaves, giving reddish-purple, 

 bronze, and crimson tints in autumn. 

 The rosy flowers appear in June, and the 

 ripe fruit in September or October. There 

 are many varieties, valued for their fruit. 

 Thrives best in wet peat bogs. 



V. MYRSENITES. A cheerful evergreen 

 shrub of i to 2 feet, with neat glossy-green 

 leaves, clusters of bell - shaped white 

 flowers touched with pink, and red berries, 

 ripening to blue or black. Firm sandy 

 peat, well-drained. 



V. MYRTILLUS (Bilberry). Native shrub 

 growing on our moors and in shady 

 woods. Its rigid stems, often only a 

 few inches high, rise from a creeping root- 

 stock, bearing neat leaves (red while 

 young), small rosy flowers, and juicy blue 

 berries of excellent flavour. 



V. OVATUM. An evergreen shrub of 

 3 to 8 feet, from the Pacific coast of North 

 America, with thick glossy leaves, bright 

 pink flowers, and handsome red fruits, 

 ripening black and of good flavour. This 

 makes a choice hedge plant, and is one 

 of the most useful kinds of the genus, 



V. OXYCOCCUS (Cranberry). Trailing 

 evergreen shrub found in our peat bogs 

 from Sussex to Shetland. It has downy 

 stems, scattered leaves, tiny red flowers, 

 and dark red acid fruits. 



V. PENNSYLVANICUM (Pennsylvania 

 Blueberry). A low shrub with oblong 

 shining leaves, white or rosy flowers, 

 and sweet bluish-black fruits, ripening 

 early and much esteemed. The plant 

 grows well in drier places than most 

 Whortleberries, and the foliage is very 

 effective in late autumn. 



V. STAMINEUM (Deerberry). A dense 

 shrub of 2 feet, growing in dry woods of 

 New England, with grey - green leaves, 



showy greenish- white or purple flowers, 

 and pale green, round, or pear-shaped 

 fruits of no value. It is a graceful garden 

 shrub, thriving in shady places and easily 

 grown. The flowers are peculiar in having 

 no bud stage, coming wide open from the 

 first. 



V. ULIGINOSUM (Great Bilberry). A 

 native trailing shrub, found in mountain 

 bogs and woody places of Scotland and 

 the north of England. The flowers are 

 small, pale pink, and the berries dark blue. 

 A useful rock plant for cold wet soils. 



V. VACILLANS (Pale Blueberry). An 

 erect-growing little shrub well adapted 

 for dry and sandy places, with showy 

 bell - shaped flowers contracted at the 

 mouth, and borne in loose clusters ; large 

 blue berries, with a dense bloom and good 

 flavour, ripening after the first earlies. 

 A pretty plant, and worth growing for 

 its fruit alone. 



V. VITIS-ID^A (Cowberry). A native 

 evergreen shrub with trailing stems, 

 growing in the west from Devon and S. 

 Wales, into Scotland, but absent from the 

 S.E. of Britain. The box-like leaves are 

 dark and shining, and the pretty pink 

 flowers give place to crimson berries the 

 size of red currants and equally useful, 

 but only abundant on well-grown plants. 



VALERIANA ( Valerian) . Hardy 

 perennial and mountain plants, of 

 which the only one worth cultivating 

 in a general way is the golden-leaved 

 variety of V. Phu an effective plant 

 in spring, when its foliage is young ; 

 it is of neat tufted habit, and grows 

 freely in any soil. A few dwarf alpine 

 Valerians are sometimes grown, but 

 they are not attractive. The flowers, 

 too, are unpleasantly scented. Some 

 of the larger species are pretty in 

 rough places in moist land. V. sam- 

 bucifolia, with flowers white and borne 

 in large umbelliferous heads in July, is 

 among the more effective things for 

 grouping in the mixed border, rising 

 nearly 6 feet high and being consider- 

 ably more than that across. It is one 

 of the most vigorous of perennials, and 

 may be turned to good account in 

 many ways, e.g., the shrubbery border 

 and the more open approaches to the 

 woodland. 



VALLOTA (Scarborough Lily}. V. 

 purpurea is a handsome Amaryllis-like 

 plant, with bright crimson - scarlet 

 flowers, hardy in mild spots. It 

 requires a warm situation in light soil, 

 such as the foot of a south wall, and 

 in such positions it often thrives 

 better than in pots under glass ; but 

 the bulbs must be protected during 



