i2 4 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



depends to a greater extent on the shoots of the ling. Ling 

 and purple bell-heather combine with the paler bells of the 

 cross-leaved heath, and with all these berries, to form a 

 typical mountain vegetation in the mountainous parts of 

 these islands, and on lower ground further to northward. 

 Vegetation descends, like the snowline, as one gets 

 further to northward, so that the plants of English moun- 

 tain-tops may occur almost at sea-level in Lapland or Siberia. 

 The crowberry plant is easily recognisable by its small round 

 black berries ; it has finely cut leaves, much like those of the 

 bell-heather, though juicier looking and of a brighter green. 

 Cowberry belongs to the whortleberry tribe ; the leaves are 

 smooth and evergreen, and the scarlet berries grow in small 

 clusters. Bearberry is extremely like it in general appearance, 

 though it is more closely allied to the heaths. It can be 

 distinguished from the cowberry by the top of the berry being 

 perfectly smooth, while the cowberry has the little scar, or 

 'eye,' which marks the position of the withered blossom, as 

 in the currant or gooseberry. The great bilberry, which 

 occurs in some of the more northern and mountainous parts 

 of the country, is rather larger than the common species, and 

 has grey-green instead of yellow-green leaves. The berry 

 is larger, but more tasteless. The cranberry and cloudberry 

 are two of the rarer mountain berries in these islands, though 

 two species of the former are often sent to our markets from 

 abroad. The cranberry belongs to the whortleberry and 

 cowberry family, and is distinguishable by its slender, creep- 

 ing stems as well as by its crimson berries. The cloudberry 

 is like a large pale yellow raspberry, and belongs to the same 

 tribe. It grows in bogs and wet hollows on a large-leafed 

 plant a few inches high, and is a very delicate fruit ; eaten 

 with cream, it is almost better than the strawberry, and in 

 many wild regions abroad is doubly welcome from the 



