586 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



V. erythrocarpum Michx. 



Pennsylvania to Georgia on high mountains. The transparent, scarlet berries are 

 of excellent taste. 



V. leschenaultii Wight. 



Neilgherries. The berries, about the size of red currants, are agreeably acid and 

 make excellent tarts.' Mueller ^ says of Ceylon also, a tree, flowering and fruiting through- 

 out the year. 



V. leucanthum Schlecht. 



Mexico. The black fruit is edible.' 



V. maderense Link, maderia whortleberry. 



Madeira. The berries are black, juicy, eatable and gratefully add.* 



V. meridiooale Sw. Jamaica bilberry. ' 



Jamaica. The berries are sapid, red, acid, astringent, bitter and, like bilberries, 

 they make good jelly.' This species is grown in the Public Gardens of Jamaica.' 



V. mortinia Benth. mortinia. 



Ecuador and the mountains of Columbia. The berries come to the Quito market 

 under the name of mortinia.' 



V. myrtillus Linn, bilberry, blaeberry, whinberry. whortleberry. 



North temperate and arctic regions. The Highlanders of Scotland frequently eat 

 the berries in milk and sometimes make them into tarts and jellies.^ In the Orkneys, 

 the blaeberry grows in abundance, the fruit of large size; wine of fine flavor has been made 

 from it. Johnson ' says the berries are slightly acid and sweetish but do not possess much 

 flavor in the raw state, though liked by some persons. They are sold in the English markets. 

 This is a favorite food of the Rocky Mountain Indians.*" 



V. ovalifolium Sm. 



Northern North America. The berries are gathered before quite ripe, are pressed 

 into a cake, then dried and laid by. When used, a quantity is put into a vessel of cold 

 water and stirred rapidly with the hand until it assumes a form not unlike soapsuds. It is 

 pleasant to the taste, with a slightly bitter flavor." 



Wight, R. Icon. Pis. 4:Pl 1188. 1850. 

 ' Mueller, P. Sel. Pis. ^gg. 1891. 

 'Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:855. 1834. 

 <Don, G. Hist. Dichl. Pis. 3:854. 1834. 



Titford, W. J. Hort. Boi. Amer. 60. 1812. 



Morris Rpt. Pub. Card. Jam. 35. 1880. 

 ' Mueller, F. Sd. Pis. 500. 1891. 



Lightfoot, J. Fl. Scot. 1:201. 1789. 



Johnson, C. P. Useful Pis. Gt. Brit. 163. 1862. 

 > U. S. D. A. Rpt. 415. 1870. 



"Brown, R. Bot. Soc. Edinb. 9:384. 1868. 



