The Whor tie- Berry. 147 



THE WHORTLE-BERRY (Vaccinium Myrtillus). 



IN most parts of Great Britain and Ireland, the eastern 

 English counties excepted, there is found upon hills and 

 moorlands such as sportsmen resort to for grouse, also in 

 dry and rocky woods, a hardy little shrub from which in 

 August may be gathered purple berries the size of peas. 

 They go by several different names, whortle-berries, 

 whinberries, bilberries, blaeberries, hurtle-berries, and in 

 districts where the plant abounds, are brought to market 

 in considerable quantities. In the raw state they are 

 scarcely palatable, but made into tart or pudding, they 

 supply a very agreeable change after currants and other 

 cultivated fruits, though with the drawback of astringency, 

 and the objection that the juice stains the lips. But the 

 stain is soon effaced by the use of a lemon. Usually 

 growing in large patches, and often occupying immense 

 areas of moor and mountain surface, for, like the heather 

 and some among ourselves, it rejoices in great solitudes 

 that have never felt the plough, the bright green of the 

 foliage never fails to give pleasure. The flowers are 

 pretty, being bead-like, almost globular, waxy in texture, 

 and of a peculiar reddish green. The berries grow singly 

 and somewhat sparingly, and present upon the summit 

 a curious little crater, the floor of which is flat, the 

 persistent style standing like a pillar in the centre, and 

 the margin representing the remains of the calyx. When 

 newly ripe, they are covered, like plums and grapes, with 



