628 VACCINIUM 



of the equator, yet hardy enough to grow and flower in some of the home 

 counties. The fruits are sold in the market of Quito, and from the name, 

 " Mortina," by which they are known, the specific name has been adapted. 



V. MYRTILLUS, Linnceus. WHORTLEBERRY, BILBERRY. 



A deciduous shrub, usually 6 to 12 ins. high, sometimes more; the young 

 branches distinctly angled, smooth. Leaves ovate, to i in. .long, often 

 somewhat heart-shaped, regularly and bluntly toothed, bright green and 

 quite smooth, scarcely stalked. Flowers produced in May usually singly on 

 drooping stalks from the leaf-axils. Corolla nearly globular, pale pink, 

 J in. long. Berries black, with a blue bloom, \ in. diameter, globular. 



Native of Britain, where it is one of the commonest of mountain and 

 moorland shrubs, also of N. and Central Europe. The bilberry is one of 

 the most valuable wild fruits of Britain, and is frequently offered in consider- 

 able quantities in the markets of north country towns. They are used for 

 making tarts, jelly, and are especially delicious eaten with cream and sugar. 

 A very hardy plant, it manages to survive on the summits of our loftiest 

 mountains. It is scarcely of sufficient interest for the garden, and does not 

 always thrive well translated to low-level gardens, in the south at any rate. 

 Its angled stems distinguish it from the other British species. 



Var. FRUCTU-ALBO. Fruits white. 



Var. MICROPHYLLUM, Hooker (V. microphyllum, Howell). Native of 

 Western N. America from the Sierra Nevada, where it occurs at 7000 ft., 

 into British Columbia. It is about half the size of the European plant in all 

 its parts. 



V. OVATUM, Pursh. 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 4732.) 



An evergreen -shrub of bushy habit, 10 to 12 ft. high in this country; 

 young wood purple, covered with short, dense down. Leaves j to ^ in. 

 apart, sometimes slightly heart-shaped at the base, but usually rounded or 

 tapering; i to ij- ins. long, \ to f in. wide; of firm leathery texture, finely 

 and regularly toothed, dark glossy green above, paler beneath and smooth 

 except for some short, scattered bristles beneath and some down on the 

 midrib above. Flowers produced in September four to six together in short, 

 nodding racemes from the leaf-axils, white, roundish, bell-shaped, with five 

 small, recurved, triangular lobes. Berry black, round, \ in. diameter. 



Native of Western N. America; discovered by Menzies towards the end 

 of the eighteenth century; introduced by Douglas in 1826. Whilst hardy 

 enough to survive the hardest winters experienced at Kew, it often suffers 

 in severe frost through the cutting back of the younger growth. At 

 Bearwood, in Berkshire, there is a specimen 10 to 12 ft. high, which 

 is one of the finest in the country. It is a handsome bush when seen at 

 its best. The fruit rarely ripens with us; they were said by Douglas to be 

 agreeably flavoured, although acid. 



V. PADIFOLIUM, Smith. MADEIRAN WHORTLEBERRY. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 7305 ; V. maderense, Link.) 



A deciduous shrub, 6 to 8 ft. high in this country, but becoming a small 

 tree in Madeira; young wood downy except for smooth strips extending 

 from the base of one leaf to the axil of the next below. Leaves ovate to 

 oval, i to 2^ ins. long, to I in. wide; rounded or tapering at the base, 



