THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



FlG. 60. Cowberry ( Vaccinium 

 Vitis-Idcea). 



species of Vaccinium are the Bilberry (Vaccinium Myrtillus) and 



the Cowberry or Red Whortleberry (V. Vitis-Idcea). The fruit of 



the Bilberry is very well known, but the flowers are less familiar. 



They droop, are pink, and in shape 

 not unlike those of the Lily-of-the- 

 Valley. The Cowberry is a small 

 mountain shrub, with dark green, 

 shining leaves, a bell-shaped pink 

 corolla, and a dark red-berried 

 fruit. Below a height of 2000 feet 

 the Bilberry is often found asso- 

 ciated with the Heather or the 

 Cotton-Grass ; above that height, 

 especially in dry, rocky, wind- 

 swept situations, it becomes the 

 dominant plant. The accom- 

 panying photograph of a York- 

 shire moor shows the Bilberry and 

 the Cowberry, forming, as it were, 



the sky-limit of the moor, where it is exposed to all weathers 



and where the influence of man is but slight. The Crowberry 



(Empetrum nigrum) is constantly found on Vaccinium moors. 



This is a small heath-like shrub, with ever- 

 green leaves, the edges of which roll back as 



they do in Heaths. The flowers are very 



small ; the fruit is black and about the size 



of a pea. In general habit it is not unlike 



one of the Heaths, the Trailing Azalea 



(Loiseleuria procumbens), which is confined 



to the Highlands. Another plant, even more 



commonly associated with the Vacciniums, 



is the Heath Rush (Juncus squarrosus). 



This Rush differs from the majority of 



species in having the flowers distinct instead 



of clustered together. 



The moorland of our northern counties 



thus shows three very well-marked types : FlG - 6 1. -Crowberry (Em- 



TT ,1 .,1 -r . fietrum merit m\ 



I. Heather moors, with Ling the dominant 



