228 ERICACEAE. (HEATH FAMILY.) 



* Flowers solitary or 2 to 4 in a fascicle, from a distinct scaly bud, more com- 



monly 4-merous and 8-androus : leaves entire, sessile or nearly so: limb of the 

 calyx deeply 4 to 5-parted: berries blackish-blue with a bloom. 



1 . V. occidental, Gray. A foot or more high, glabrous : leaves glau- 

 cescent, obscurely veiny, from oval to obovate-oblong or oblanceolate, obtuse 

 or aeutish : flower mostly solitary from the scaly bud : berry small, barely 

 3 lines in diameter. Bot. Calif, i. 451. In the Uinta Mountains and west- 

 ward in the Sierra Nevada. 



* # Flowers solitary in the earliest axils, usually 5-merous and 10-androus: calyx 



less or very slightly lobed. 

 -.- Dwarf and cespitose: branches not angled. 



2. V. CSespitOSUm, Michx. Glabrous or nearly so, 3 to 6 inches high : 

 leaves from obovate to cuueate-obloug, thickly serrulate, bright green both 

 sides, reticulate-veiny (f to 1 inch long) : berry proportionally large, blue 

 with a bloom, sweet. From the Colorado mountains to Alaska, and east- 

 ward in Labrador and the White Mountains. 



Var. cuneifolium, Nutt. A span to near a foot high, bushy : leaves 

 spatulate-cuneate and with rounded apex, passing in one form to spatulate- 

 lanceolate and acute ; the earliest not rarely entire. Mountains of Colorado 

 to California, British Columbia, and Lake Superior. 



<- - Low : branches sharply angled and green : leaves small. 



3. V. Myrtillus, L. A foot or less high, glabrous : leaves ovate or 

 oval, thin, shining, serrate, conspicuously reticulated- veiny, and with a promi- 

 nent narrow midrib ( to $ inch long) : limb of calyx almost entire: corolla 

 globular-ovate : berries black, nodding. From Colorado and Utah north- 

 ward to Alaska. Known as " Whortleberry " or " Bilberry." 



Var. microphyllum, Hook. A diminutive form, 3 to 6 inches high : 

 leaves 2 to 4 lines long : corolla, proportionally small, a line long : berries at 

 first " light red." Colorado, Utah, and in the Sierras and northward. 



2. ARCTOSTAPHYLOS, Adans. BEARBERRY. MANZANITA. 



Shrubs with alternate leaves, and small mostly white or rose-colored flowers 

 variously clustered. 



1. A. Uva-ursi, Spreng. Depressed-trailing or creeping, green: leaves 

 coriaceous and evergreen, oblong-spatulate, retuse, an inch or less long, taper- 

 ing into a petiole : flowers rather few in simple small clusters, 2 lines long : 

 ovary and reddish fruit glabrous : nutlets 1 -nerved on the back. From New 

 Mexico to Pennsylvania, California, and northward. Often called " Kinni- 

 kinnick," as well as " Bearberry." 



3. GAULTHERIA, Kalm. AROMATIC WINTERGREEN. 



Shrubs or almost herbaceous ; with broad evergreen leaves, shining above, 

 and usually spicy-aromatic in flavor, axillary white or rose-colored nodding 

 flowers in early summer. 



1. G. Myrsinites, Hook. Cespitose-procumbent or depressed, a few 

 inches high : leaves orbicular or ovate, denticulate with minute bristle-tipped 



