AR'BUTUS, STRAWBERRY-TREE. 115 



Hazel blows in February, but does not ripen its 

 fruit till autumn; while the Cherry, which does not 

 blow till May, is ripe in June. It may be taken, 

 however, as a general rule, that if a plant blows in 

 summer, it ripens its fruit in autumn, as is the 

 case with the Vine ; and if it blows in autumn, the 

 fruit is ripe in the winter ; but the Meadow-Saffron, 

 though it blows in the autumn, does not ripen its 

 seeds till the succeeding spring. 



EDWARD. 



The Ar'butus berries look like strawberries : 

 I have tasted some of them in the shrubbery, but 

 they were not very good. 



MOTHER. 



They are insipid; but they are sometimes eaten 

 by the country people in the south of Ireland, 

 where this tree grows abundantly and in great 

 perfection, especially among the rocks of the Lakes 

 of Killarney. 



The black-berried Strawberry-tree, Ar'butus 

 Alpi'na, which grows on mountains in Scotland, 

 flowers in June and July, and bears a fruit like 

 the black currant, both in shape and flavour. 



The second order, Digynia, of this class, con- 

 tains the genus Saxif raga, or Saxifrage, of which 

 there are several native species. London Pride, 

 I 2 



