CLASS X. ORDKR II.] SCLERASTHUS. 595 



2. A. uva ur'si, Spreng. (Fig. 674.) Red Bear-berry. Stem pro- 

 cumbent ; leaves obovate, entire, evergreen, smooth, netted with veins ; 

 racemes short, terminal. 



Lindley, Synopsis, p. 174. Arbutus uva ursi, Linn. English 

 Botany, t. 714. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 253. Hooker, British 

 Flora, vol. i. p. 193. 



A small trailing shrub, with round smooth long slender branches, 

 very leafy. Leaves oblong, or obovate, evergreen, alternate, tapering 

 at the base into a short footstalk, of a leathery texture, quite smooth, 

 dark green above, paler beneath, with a mid-rib and much netted 

 veins, the margins entire, somewhat rolled back, very finely downy, as 

 well as the young shoots. Inflorescence in short terminal racemes, of 

 a few crowded beautiful pale rose-coloured flowers. Corolla oblong, 

 contracted at the mouth with a fine cleft limb, of short teeth. Calyx 

 of five short ciliated segments. Stamens with short filaments, smooth, 

 dilated at the base. Anthers two -celled, with lateral openings, crowned 

 with two reflexed awns. Style short. Stigmas obtuse. Fruit a 

 globose berry, depressed at the top, smooth, of a scarlet colour, mealy, 

 with five single seeded cells, of a very astringent austere taste. 



Habitat. Dry heathy and rocky places in alpine districts in the 

 North of England and Ireland, but most abundant in the Highlands 

 and Western Isles of Scotland. 



Shrub ; flowering in May. 



The leaves of the red Bear-berry possess bitter astringent and de- 

 mulcent properties ; when fresh dried, they have the odour, but not 

 the taste, of Hyson tea. It had long been used as a medicine, but fell 

 into disuse, until it was again brought into notice about the middle of 

 the last century, and has since been used with benefit in the form of 

 a powder of the leaves, and their infusion or decoction alone, or in 

 combination with alkalies, as a remedy ia irritable, ulcerated, or calcu- 

 lous affections of the urinary organs. In Russia the leaves are reported 

 to be used in the process of tanning leather. The berries are astrin- 

 gent, with an unpleasant austere taste, hut are excellent food for Moor 

 game. 



ORDER II. 



DIGY'NIA. 2 PISTILS. 



GENUS VI. SCLERAN'THUS. LINN. Knawel 

 Nat Ord. SCLERAN'THEJE. LINK. 



GEN. CHAR. Perianth single, with an urceolate tube, and five toothed 

 limb. Stamens inserted into the perianth, often abortive. Fruit 

 a single seeded utricule, covered with the hardened tube of the 



