604 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



GENUS XXVII. 



Identification. Lin. Gen., 191. ; Ait. Hort. Kew., 2. p. 355. ; Pursh Fl. Bor. Amer., 1. p. 282 ; Juss. 



Gen., 162. ; Nutt. Gen. Amer., 1. p. 263. ; Lam. 111., 286. ; Gaertn. Fruct., t. 28. ; Don's Mill., 3. 



p. 851. 



Synonymes. Fltis idze^a Tourn. Inst. t. 377. ; Airelle, Fr. ; Heidelbeere, Ger. 

 Derivation. An ancient Latin name, but whether of a berry or a flower has been a point in dispute 



among critics, as well as its etymology. 



Gen. Char. Calyx 4 5-toothed. Corolla urceolate or campanulate, more 

 or less deeply 4 5-cleft; limb reflexed. Stamens 8 10, hypogynous. 

 Anthers 2-horned, dehiscing at the summits, and sometimes furnished at 

 the back with two spreading spines or bristles. Style longer than the sta- 

 mens. Stigma obtuse. Berry globose, depressed at top, 4 5-celled, 

 many-seeded. (Don's Mill.) 



Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, deciduous or evergreen ; membranous, 

 often beset with resinous dots. Flowers pedicellate, and solitary, simply 

 racemose, or tufted, drooping, inodorous, tinted with various shades of red 

 or pink, never blue, scarcely yellowish, generally very elegant. Berries 

 black, purple, bluish, or red, generally eatable. Shrubs, low, suffruticose, 

 gemmaceous ; natives of Europe or North America. 



The species are in a good deal of confusion, from the whole of them never 

 having been studied together in the same garden. We have followed the 

 arrangement of G. Don, as the latest and best, not having had an opportunity 

 ourselves of examining all the species said to be in cultivation in British 

 gardens. 



A. Leaves deciduous. 



a. Pedicels \-flowered, usually solitary, rarely twin, or fasciculate. 



j* I. V. MVRTI'JLLUS L. The Little-Myrtle-Me? Whortleberry, or common 

 Bilberry, or Bleaberry. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 498. ; Smith Engl. Fl., 2. p. 219. ; Don's Mill., 3. p. 851. 

 Engravings. Engl. Bot., t. 456. ; Fl. Dan., t. 974. ; and our Jig. 1153. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Pedicels solitary, 1 -flowered. Leaves serrated, ovate, smooth. 

 Stem acutely angular, smooth. Calyx hardly divided. Corolla globose 

 generally 5-cleft, of a very delicate, waxy, pink hue. (Don's Mill.) A low 

 deciduous shrub. North of Europe, on heaths, stony moors, and mountain 

 woods ; North of Africa and Asia ; and at Nootka Sound and Nova Scotia, in 

 America. Plentiful in Britain and Ireland, and also in Iceland ; and pro 

 cumbent about the subalpine zone in England, 

 where it rarely produces flowers. Height 6 in. 

 to 2 ft. Flowers delicate, waxy, pink ; May. 

 Berries bluish black, about the size of currants, 

 and covered with a mealy bloom ; ripe in 

 October. 



Variety. 



* V. M. 2 bacds dlbis Booth has white 

 fruit. Plants of this variety were dis- 

 covered in 1835 in the Black Forest. 



The berries are eaten in tarts, or with cream, 

 or made into jelly, in the northern and western 

 counties of England and Scotland ; and, in other 

 parts of the country, they are made into pies and 



