Minnesota Plant Life. 



357 



a bloom. It may be distinguished by the entire margins of 

 the leaves, quite different from the notched margins of the low 

 blueberry. The bog blueberry has pink flowers and small ovate 

 leaves. The cowberry may be recognized by the sour red 

 berries and the evergreen leaves. The flowers and fruits are 

 in structure altogether similar to those of the blueberries. 



Cranberries. The two kinds of cranberries found in the 

 state are both bog plants, with very slender creeping stems, 

 having small thick evergreen leaves apparently disposed in 

 two rows along the 

 branches. In the small cran- 

 berry the berry is almost 

 spherical, while in the large 

 cranberry an oblong or 

 ovoid berry is produced. In 

 the flowers the corolla lobes 

 are turned backward toward 

 the stem. By this character 

 the cranberries can be dis- 

 tinguished from the cow- 

 berry, which has a bell- 

 shaped flower. Both spe- 

 cies of cranberry are red 

 or spotted, and acid to the 

 taste. 



Snowberries. The snow- 

 berry has a plant-body which reminds one of that of the cran- 

 berries, but the flowers are ovoid vase-shaped, and the fruit is 

 of a pure white color. Like the cranberries, they are found in 

 cold peat-bogs and in tamarack swamps. This plant is partic- 

 ularly abundant in the region about Duluth. 



Huckleberries. One variety of huckleberry is found between 

 the Kettle river, Cass lake, and the international boundary. 

 The plant-body reminds one of the blueberry, but the fruits are 

 black, without a bloom, sweet to the taste and clustered in 

 erect or nodding racemes. 



Primroses. The twenty-eighth order comprises three fami- 

 lies of plants, of which only one, the primrose family, is repre- 

 sented in the state. Of primroses there are fourteen or fifteen 



FIG. 171. Small cranberry. After Britton and 

 Brown. 



