554 VACCINIUM. ICLASS VIII. ORDER I. 



** VITIS ID^'A. Leaves persistent evergreen. Anthers aimless at the 



back. 



3. V. Vitis Idee' a, Linn. (Fig. 631.) Red Whortle-berry, Cow-berry. 

 Leaves evergreen, obovate, obtuse, paler beneath and dotted, the mar- 

 gins revolute, nearly entire ; flowers campanulate, in a terminal drooping 

 raceme. 



English Botany, L 598. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 220. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 182. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 134. 



Root woody, creeping, with long branched fibres. Stem erect, round, 

 smooth, simple, or with a few short branches at the top, leafy upwards. 

 Leaves alternate, obovate, obtuse, mostly with a minute point, smooth 

 and shining, pale and dotted beneath, with small prominent glands, 

 the margins entire, or somewhat crenated, and more or less rolled 

 back, the footstalk short, and mid-rib prominent, of a thick leathery 

 texture. Flowers in a terminal drooping raceme, of from four to eight, 

 of a pale pink or flesh colour, each on a short downy footstalk, from 

 the axil of a small concave fringed Iractca, the calyx with a four 

 toothed fringed spreading limb, the corolla bell-shaped, deeply four- 

 cleft, the segments spreading. Stamens with short broad filaments, 

 hairy, as well as the base of the anthers, which are of two long linear 

 cells, terminating in a long beak, with terminal pores for the discharge 

 of the pollen. Style half as long again as the corolla, simple, with an 

 obtuse stigma. Fruit a globose berry, of a fine dark red colour, acid, 

 with an astringent bitter taste. 



Habitat. Dry and heathy places in mountainous .and sub-alpine 

 districts, especially in the North of England, Wales, and Scotland, 

 and not uncommon in Ireland. 



Shrub ; flowering in May. 



This small evergreen shrub has a great resemblance in its leaves 

 to the Box. The berries, though acid with an unpleasant astringent 

 bitterness, are collected in various parts of the country, especially 

 in Derbyshire, and made into tarts, as well as boiled with sugar into a 

 jam, or made into jelly, which is a useful remedy in colds and sore 

 throats, as allaying the irritation of the inflamed mouth and fauces, [n 

 Sweden it is commonly used with all sorts of roast meats, and is said 

 to be much better than currant jelly with venison. 



*** OXY'COCCO. Leaves persistent, evergreen. Anthers aimless at the 

 back. Corolla wheel-shaped, with reftexed segments. 



4. V. Oxy'coccos, Linn. (Fig. 632.) Marsh Whortle-berry, Cran- 

 berry. Stem thread-shaped, smooth, trailing; leaves evergreen, ovate, 

 glaucous beneath ; peduncles long, naked, single flowered, terminal; 

 corolla rotate, witb oblong reflexed segments. 



English Botany, t. 319. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 221. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 182. Oxycoccus palustris, Rich. Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 134. 



Root of numerous slender divided branches from the axis of the 



