VACCINIUM VELLA 6:31 



Native of Britain on moors, heaths, and in woods; also of Europe, 

 N. Asia, and N.E. America. Its fruit is only palatable when cooked with 

 sugar. As a shrub, the cowberry is the handsomest of native species, the 

 dark glossy foliage making neat, dense tufts. In suitable positions it 

 spreads quickly by means of its creeping root-stock. 



Var. MAJOR, Loddiges. Leaves larger than in the type, up to i ins. 

 long. 



Var. MINOR. Leaves smaller than in the type, \ to in. long. 



VELLA. CRUCIFER^E. 



A genus of shrubs consisting of three species, two of which are 

 occasionally found in cultivation. They are natives of S.W. Europe. 

 Flowers yellow; petals four; seed-vessel a compressed, two-celled pod, 

 with one or two seeds in each cell. 



V. PSEUDOCYTISUS, Linnczus. CRESS ROCKET. 



(Bot. Reg., t. 293.) 



A low, evergreen shrub, usually less than 2 ft. high near London, but 

 larger in milder localities; branches erect, covered the first two or three 

 years with spiny bristles, ultimately smooth. Leaves obovate, \ to f in. 

 long, rounded at the apex, tapering to a short stalk at the base, covered on 

 both surfaces and at the margin with stiff bristly hairs. Flowers on an erect, 

 elongated, terminal raceme, 4 to 8 ins. long, more crowded towards the top, 

 the calyx erect, green, hairy; petals somewhat spoon-shaped, the terminal 

 part yellow, and roundish; the lower part contracted into a long, slender, 

 purplish claw; each petal about \ in. long; flower-stalk ^ in. long. 



This curious shrub is a native of the mountains of Central Spain. It is 

 not really hardy, but has stood unprotected on the rock garden at Kew for 

 several years at a time. Our hardest winters kill it. A sunny, rather dry 

 position should be given it. It was cultivated by Miller at Chelsea, in 1759- 

 Propagated easily by cuttings of half-ripened wood in gentle heat. It 

 flowers 'from the end of May to July. Very suitable for the Isle of Wight 

 and similar climates. 



V. SPINOSA, Boissier. 



A dwarf, deciduous shrub of dense, compact habit about I ft. high, 

 with rigid, erect stems, the upper branchlets of which become spine-tipped; 

 young shoots smooth except for a few pale bristles at first. Leaves dull 

 greyish green, linear, \ to f in. long, -^ in. wide; fleshy, often showing a 

 tendency to become pinnate; smooth except for an occasional bristle like 

 those on the young shoots. Flowers few in terminal corymbs; each flower 

 about f in. across ; petals four, yellow with brown veins, roundish obovate, 

 narrowed at the base to a slender claw about as long as the blade. Calyx 

 tubular, J in. long, green, with four erect pointed teeth. Seed-vessel a dry 

 two-celled pod, erect, in. long, somewhat heart-shaped, terminated by a 

 flat, pointed beak $ in. long. 



Native of Spain, and quite h^rdy in the rock garden at Kew, where a 

 plant now scarcely i ft. high has grown for twenty years, flowering in 



