188 ERICACE.E. 



interlacing, and procumbent ; the leaves oval, and the clusters 

 of pinkish, bottle-shaped flowers clothe the end of the branches. 

 It flowers in May and June. The berries are red. 



The Alpine Bearberry has black fruit and serrated leaves. I 

 have never seen a living plant, only a portrait of it, 



The Strawberry Tree (A. unedo, fig. 4), is very handsome, 

 bearing its wax-like blooms and crimson fruit at the same time. 

 A kind friend brought me beautiful specimens from the banks 

 of the Lakes of Killarney, where it grows very abundantly. 

 It is a favourite shrub in our gardens. Martin Tupper speaks 

 of " the waxen flower of the Arbute, which dieth in a day." 

 alluding to the perishable nature of the delicate blossoms. The 

 Latin name " Unedo " means " One I eat," because, as Sir 

 J. E. Smith explains it, when you have eaten one of the beau- 

 tiful-looking berries you will desire no more. 



The Bird's-nest tribe succeeds the Heath tribe. It contains 

 two families, the Winter-green and the Bird's-nest or Fir-rape. 



The largest of the Winter-greens grows near Harrogate, the 

 Bound-leaved Winter-green (Pyrola rotundifolia). Its leaves 

 are glossy, and ascend on footstalks from the roots. The 

 flowers are white, having five sepals, and a corolla in five 

 segments. The blossoms are hung on alternate sides of the 

 stalk, and look like round drooping bells. The spike is nearly 

 a foot high, and there are bracts at each flower-stalk. 



The Intermediate Winter-green (P. media), is smaller than 

 the Bound-leaved species, and its flowers are pink. It grows 

 in abundance in woods in Swaledale, flowering in August. 



The Lesser Winter- green (P. minor), closely resembles the 

 last-named, but is smaller. I have no specimen of it. 



The Serrated Winter-green (P. seciinda), has cut leaves and 

 greenish- white flowers. I have found it abundantly in Switzer- 

 land, but never in Britain. 



The Single-flowered Winter-green (P. uniflora), is easily 

 distinguished by its larger solitary flowers. According to Sir 

 J. E. Smith, both these species belong to the hills of Scotland. 



