VAC 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



VAC 



725 



called Cowberries, their flavour is far inferior to the Cran- 

 berry. Their best use is for making a rob or jelly, which 

 the Swedes eat with all kinds of roast meat, and is far pre- 

 ferable to that of the red currant as a sauce for venison. 

 It is also an excellent medicine for colds, sore throats, and 

 all irritation of the mouth or fauces. Linneus observes, that 

 these berries are sent in large quantities from West Bothnia 

 to Stockholm for pickling;; but that in Switzerland, and other 

 more southern parts of Europe, they leave them to the birds. 

 Native of most parts of Europe, particularly the northern 

 countries, on dry stony heaths or moors on the mountains. 

 Many parts of Derbyshire, the north of England, Scotland, 

 and Wales, are clothed with this humble evergreen. It occurs 

 also on rocks near the sea-coast from Canada to New Eng- 

 land. It flowers in June. 



27. Vaccinium Oxycoccus; European Cranberry. Leaves 

 ovate, quite entire, revolute, acute; slems creeping, filiform, 

 smooth. Root perennial, fibrous; branches scattered, pro- 

 cumbent, leafy, flowering about the upper part; flowers 

 drooping, of a beautiful rose or flesh colour, singularly ele- 

 gant; berry globular, or pear-shaped, pale red mottled with 

 purple, when fully ripe purplish-red. These berries, made 

 into tarts, are much esteemed, though some dislike them on 

 account of their peculiar flavour. They may be kept several 

 years if wiped dry, and then closely corked in dry bottles ; 

 or the bottles may be filled with water. They are brought 

 to London from the moorland counties, and even imported 

 from Russia: the Cambridge market is supplied from Lin- 

 colnshire. At Longtown in Cumberland twenty or thirty 

 pounds' worth are sold by the poor people each market day 

 for five or six weeks together. The Swedes have no idea of 

 putting them to any other use than to boil silver plate to its 

 proper whiteness, the sharp acid of the Cranberry corroding 

 the external particles of the copper alloy. It has many 

 names in English : Cranberries, Mossberries, Moorberries, 

 Fenberries, Marshworts, or Whortleberries. The most gene- 

 ral name, Cranberry, probably originated from the peduncles 

 being crooked at the top, and, before the expansion of the 

 flower, resembling the head and neck of a crane. Native of 

 the north of Europe, generally found entangled in Sphagnum 

 and other bog-mosses, which cover the surface of shallow 

 waters, through which those who gather the fruit are obliged 

 to wade. The flowers appear in June, and the berries ripen 

 in August. They abound in the north of England, in Scot- 

 land, and in the bogs of Ireland. Found on Dersing- 

 ham moor near Norwich ; on Bootham moor near Lincoln, 

 and in great quantities in many parts of the county; on 

 Gamlingay bogs, Cambridgeshire; Potion's bogs, Bedford- 

 shire ; in Bishop's woods near Eccleshall, Staffordshire; on 

 Birmingham heath, &c. This and the American Cranberries, 

 being natives of bogs, cannot be propagated upon dry land ; 

 but on natural or artificial bogs they will spread and increase, 

 if taken up carefully with some of the soil to their roots, and 

 transplanted in autumn. 



28. Vaccinium Hispidulum; Hairy-stemmed American Cran- 

 berry. Leaves quite entire, revolute, ovate ; stems creeping, 

 filiform, hispid. This has the same structure as the Euro- 

 pean Cranberry, but is larger in all its parts, and the stem 

 is imbricate with bristle-shaped scales. It is extremely 

 abundant in North America, where the Canadian French call 

 it Atopa, a name they have borrowed from the Indians. At 

 Philadelphia, late in autumn, they are brought to market 

 every Saturday ; and are boiled and prepared in the same 

 manner as the Swedes treat their Red Whortleberries. They 

 are also made use of during the winter and part of the sum- 

 mer, in tarts and other kinds of pastry. But as they are very 



sour, they require a great quantity of sugar, in which vast 

 quantities of them are preserved, and sent to the West Indies 

 and to Europe. The American Cranberry may be cultivated 

 here in an artificial bog with great plenty of water. A few 

 square yards of ground thus employed will yield as much fruit 

 as any family can use. They should be allowed to hang till 

 fully ripe, which will be in October, and will then prove better 

 than the preceding species. 



29. Vaccinium Macrocarpon; Smooth- stemmed American 

 Cranberry. Leaves quite entire, oval, oblong, obtuse, flat; 

 stems creeping, filiform. Native of North America. 



30. Vaccinium Myrtifolium. Plant creeping, very gla- 

 brous; leaves petiolate, oval, lucid, revolute, thinly denti- 

 culate; fascicles axillary, subsessile, with few flowers; corol- 

 las subglobose-campanulate ; berries small, black. Grows in 

 Carolina. 



31. Vaccininm Crassifolium. Plant diffuse; branches 

 ascending, lax; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, serrate, 

 rigid, glabrous ; racemes terminal, corymbed, bracteated, 

 with few flowers ; flowers nodding ; corollas patulo-campa- 

 nulate, deeply and acutely five-toothed; flowers pink-red, 

 very ornamental. Grows in Carolina. 



32. Vaccinium Nitidum. Plant erect, very branchy ; 

 branches distichous ; leaves shining, obovate-elliptic, acute, 

 glabrous, serrate; racemes terminal, corymbed, bracteated, 

 nodding; corollas cylindrical; flowers pink-red. The stem 

 is of humble growth ; the young branches downy on two op- 

 posite sides. Grows in Carolina. 



. 33. Vaccinium Myrsinitis. Plant erect, very branchy, with 

 small leaves ; leaves sessile, oval, mucronate, subserrulate ; 

 fascicles gemmaceous, terminal, and lateral ; corollas oblong- 

 ovate, purple; calix scarlet. A beautiful little shrub, grow- 

 ing in the dry sandy woods of Carolina and Florida. 



34. Vaccinium Buxifolium. Plant dwarfish; leaves obo- 

 vate, crenate, dentated, glabrous ; fascicles heape'd together, 

 subsessile, axillary, and terminal ; corollas short-ovate ; fila- 

 menta glandulose; stigma capitated; flowers white, delicately 

 tinged with red. A handsome little shrub, in dry woods, on 

 limestone rocks, in the western parts of Virginia, near Win- 

 chester and the Sweet Springs. 



35. Vaccinium Ovatum. Leaves petiolate, ovate, acute, 

 revolute, serrate, glabrous, coriaceous ; racemes axillary and 

 terminal, bracteate, short; corollas cylindraceous; calices 

 acute. Grows on the north-west coast of North America. 



36. Vaccinium Obtusum. Plant creeping; leaves small, 

 oval, rotundate-obtuse, mucrouate, very entire, glabrous, 

 coriaceous; peduncles axillary, solitary, one-flowered. 

 Grows on the north-west coast of North America. 



Vahlia; a genus of the class Pcntandria, order Digynia. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five-leaved. Corolla: 

 five-petalled, alternate with the stamens. Capsule: inferior, 

 one-celled, two-valved, crowned with the permanent calix. 

 Seeds: numerous. The only known species is, 



1. Vahlia Capensis. Leaves opposite, sessile, subpubes- 

 cent, narrow, lanceolate ; stipules none ; stem herbaceous, 

 round, without knots, below bracliiate and subpubescent; 

 flowers from the upper branches, peduncled, two or more, fre- 

 quently three together, yellow. Native of the Cape, in sandy 

 places. 



Valantia; a genus of the class Polygamia, order Monoecia, 

 (or Tetrandria, Monogynia.) GENERIC CHARACTER. Her- 

 maphrodite Flower : solitary. Calix : scarcely any, in place 

 of the germen. Corolla : one-petalled, flat, four-parted ; 

 segments ovate, acute. Stamina : filamenta four, length of 

 the corolla; antherse small. Pistil: germen large, inferior; 

 style length of the stamina, semibifid ; stigmas headed. Peri- 



