552 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Vaccinium Myrtillus, Linn6.* 



The British Whortleberry or Bilberry. Throughout Europe, 

 Northern and Middle Asia, remotest North- America, extending to 

 the Californian Sierra Nevada ; in heathy and turfy forest-land. 

 In Norway it is found wild to lat. 71 10' [Schuebeler]. A shrub, 

 some few feet high or less, deciduous, erect, of great value for its 



' copious supply of berries. They are, as well known, black with a 

 bluish-grey hue, rarely white, of exceedingly grateful taste and very 

 wholesome. Fresh, eaten with milk, one of the most agreeable of all 

 dishes. The naturalisation of this plant on alpine ranges and in 

 cooler woodlands would prove a boon. The mere dispersion of the 

 berries in heathy or moory forests would probably suffice to augment 

 the local extension of this highly useful shrub or its naturalisation in 



apt, especially sub-alpine, regions elsewhere. For raising the plant 

 from seeds, the berries should be dried by lenient warmth, and the 

 seeds be left in the pulp on transmission. Perhaps packing among 

 slit dried figs may also be recommendable, or they might be trans- 

 mitted in ice-chambers of ships. The berries can be utilised also for 

 their dye. The whole bush contains quina-acid. 



Vaccinium ovalifolium, Smith. 



North-Western America from Mendocino to Oregon. This shrub 

 bears large edible berries [Dr. Gibbons]. Taste like those of V. 

 Myrtillus [Krause]. 



Vaccinium ovatum, Pursh. 



Common throughout California, also in British Columbia, at alti- 

 tudes from 1,000 to 2,000 feet, attaining a height of about 8 feet. 

 It bears its fruit in densely crowded racemes, the dark-blue but small 

 berries being of good flavor. This species would doubtlessly form a 

 valuable accession among cultivated fruits [Gibbons]. 



Vaccinium Oxycoccus, Linn4. (Oxycoccus palustris, Persoon.) 



The British Cranberry. Throughout Europe, Northern and Middle 

 Asia, North- America ; on turf -moss in moory heaths. A creeping 

 evergreen shrub of particular neatness. The berries give a most 

 agreeable preserve, and are of antiscorbutic value. This species is 

 particularly eligible for the spongy, mossy bogs of alpine mountains, 

 where with us also a most profitable culture thus could be initiated, 

 and where it would not be likely to encroach upon cultivated ground. 



, Indigenous in Norway northward to lat. 70 45'. 



Vaccinium padifolium, Smith. (V. Madeirense, Link.) 



Madeira and Azores, at 2-5,000 feet height. An arborescent shrub 

 rather of longevity [Sir Jos. Hooker]. Closely allied to V. Arcto- 

 staphylos. Ripens fruit in England without protection. The berries 

 are not so large as those of V. Myrtillus, but sweeter and clustered 

 [Fr. Hall]. 



