OXYCOCCUS-OXYUENDRUM 117 



O. MACROCARPUS, Pursh. AMERICAN CRANBERRY. 



(Vaccinium macrocarpum, AitonJ) 



A creeping evergreen shrub of prostrate habit, with long, thin, wiry stems. 

 Leaves oval or oblong, ^ to f in. long, to A- in. wide ; rounded at both ends, 

 entire, very short stalked, pale or bluish white beneath, usually recurved at 

 the margins. Flowers produced during the summer in a raceme about I in. 

 long, beyond which the leaf-bearing shoot continues to grow ; each flower is 

 borne on a curving, slightly downy stalk, but is itself drooping. Petals pink, 

 J in. long, rolled back so as to fully reveal the eight stamens, which stand up 

 in a close cluster. Calyx with shallow, triangular lobes. Berry red, acid, 

 ^ to | in. diameter, globose. 



Native of Eastern N. America from Newfoundland to N. Carolina, 

 generally inhabiting boggy ground. It has much the same general appear- 

 ance as our native cranberry, but differs in its larger, rounder-tipped leaves 

 and larger berries, in having a leafy shoot above the raceme, and in the 

 stalk of the stamens being shorter in comparison with the anthers. This 

 shrub is now being largely cultivated in the United States for its fruit. 

 Hundreds of acres have been specially adapted for it by means of a water- 

 supply which admits of the land being flooded at will. On well-prepared 

 ground a crop of 500 bushels per acre has been gathered in a single season. 



O. PALUSTRIS, Persoon. SMALL CRANBERRY. 

 (Vaccinium Oxycoccus, Linnceus.) 



A prostrate, evergreen shrub with long, thin, wiry stems. Leaves ovate, 

 % to in. long, pointed, dark green above, very glaucous beneath. Flowers 

 nodding, produced during summer in a terminal cluster of one to four, each 

 flower on a slender downy stalk, f to I in. long. Petals rosy pink, bent 

 backwards, | in. long. Berry red, globose, ^ in. across. 



Native of-N. Europe, N. Asia, and N. America ; widely spread in the British 

 Isles, but most abundant in the north of England and the south of Scotland. At 

 one time the gathering of cranberries was a considerable industry for women 

 and children of that part of Great Britain, and in some of the markets of the 

 northern towns (at Longtown in Cumberland, near the Solway Firth, for 

 instance), ^30 worth of cranberries would be sold in a day. But the 

 draining and enclosing of boggy land induced by the high prices for corn 

 during and after the Napoleonic wars destroyed many extensive and 

 favourite haunts of the cranberry, and the plant is much less abundant 

 than in former times. The berries are perhaps the most pleasantly flavoured 

 of wild fruits. 



OXYDENDRUM ARBOREUM, De Candolle. SORREL TREE. 



ERICACE^:. 



(Andromeda arborea, Linnceus, Bot. Mag., t. 905.) 



A deciduous tree, occasionally over 50 ft. high in a wild state, the 

 slender trunk i to i| ft. in diameter. In this country it is occasionally 

 25 to 30 ft. high, but is more often a tree-like shrub under 10 ft. high; 

 young shoots quite smooth. Leaves alternate, oblong-lanceolate, with 

 a long, tapering point; 4 to 6 ins. long, i^ to 2\ ins. wide; almost or 



