94 HEATH FAMILY 



serrate with bristle tipped teeth, tip rounded or obtusely wedge-shaped, 

 base wedge-shaped, leaves 2-5 cm. long, 1-2.5 cm. wide; flowers white or 

 pale pink, axillary, solitary; peduncles about 5 mm. long, bracteoles 2 or 

 3, close under the calyx, calyx wheel-shaped, 5-pointed, corolla jug-shaped, 

 5-8 mm. long, the tips of the petals triangular, anthers with four terminal 

 awns; fruit scarlet, round, 5-10 mm. in diameter, composed chiefly of the 

 fleshy calyx, surrounding a nearly dry capsule, style persistent ; pro- 

 c u m b e n s, creeping. 



Newfoundland to Manitoba, south to Georgia, Michigan and Minne- 

 sota. In Minnesota very abundant as an undershrub in dry evergreen 

 woods of the northern and northeastern parts of the state. Flowers in 

 August, fruit ripening the next summer. 



All parts of the plant, but especially the leaves and fruit contain the 

 fragrant oil of wintergreen; commercially, however, this oil is most fre- 

 quently obtained from the twigs of the black birch. 



Arctostaphylos Ad an son 1763 Bearberry 

 (Gr. a r c t o s a bear, s t a p h y 1 e a grape) 



Shrubs or small trees ; leaves alternate, petioled, leathery, evergreen ; 

 flowers in terminal clusters, sepals 4-5, corolla bell-shaped or jug-shaped 

 of 4-5 united petals, stamens 8 or 10 included in the corolla, anthers 

 awned on the back, opening by terminal pores, pistil 4- 5 -parted, ovary 

 superior, 4-5 or 8- or 10-celled with one ovule in each cavity, style slender, 

 stigma terminal; fruit a drupe, with 4-10 coherent stones, the calyx per- 

 sisting unchanged in the fruit. 



About twenty species. The following occurs in all the northern parts 

 of the northern hemisphere, the others in western North America, where 

 they are commonly called "Manzanita." 



Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi (Linne) Sprengel 1825 Bearberry 



Trailing shrub, the branches often a meter or more long, but rising 

 scarcely 1 dm. from the ground; bark gray and scaly, becoming finally 

 smooth and red-brown; leaves alternate, petioled, leathery, evergreen, 

 dark green, glossy, and finely reticulate above, rough and for a time hairy 

 beneath, tip round, base narrowly wedge-shaped, leaves 1-1.5 cm. long. 

 5-7 mm. wide, petioles about 2 mm. long; flowers in small terminal clus- 

 ters, peduncles about 2 mm. long, recurved, flowers pale pink, corolla 

 narrowly jug-shaped, about 4-7 mm. long; drupe globose, 5-10 mm. in 

 diameter, scarlet, rather dry and scarcely edible, the stone composed usu- 

 ally of 5 coherent nutlets : u v a u r s i, bear-berry. 



