on Vaccinium Vitis-Id(c'a 171 



cated. I saAV there, stems of it trailing over the ground, 

 measuring more than three feet in length, and covered with 

 dark red berries, which, in themselves, are conspicuous 

 objects at a late season of the year ; succeeding the showy 

 flowers, which are borne in short clusters on the ends of the 

 branches. The corolla of each flower is of an ovate or urce- 

 olate shape, white, with a reddish tinge, and transparent at the 

 base, but contracted at the mouth. The blossoms appear in 

 the latter part of May, and are among the elegant productions 

 of our northern spring. 1 remember being very much im- 

 pressed by their beauty when I once found a large bed of 

 them. Large patches of the plant may be frequently seen 

 among the Pitch Pine woods, on the sandy plains, in the 

 vicinity of Lowell, where, as elsewhere, indeed, it sustains 

 some reputation for its medicinal virtues In a pleasant spot, 

 frequented for its natural beauties and seclusion, by those who 

 love to ramble among the woods and fields of Hingham, it 

 has been observed : it flourishes on the light soils near Barn- 

 stable, as I have evidence from specimens sent from that 

 town, and now lying before me ; and at Nantucket I saw it 

 in vast abundance, last September, covering the prairie-like 

 plains of that island, especially towards Squam, and known 

 familiarly there as the Mealy Plum. 



This name was well chosen, considering the dry, and 

 mealy, and somewhat sweetish consistence of its pulp, which, 

 beneath the thin skin, invests five hard seeds, so closely 

 adhered to each other, as to seem like the stone of a real 

 plum. In these particulars we have a fruit as distinct as may 

 be, from the fruit of the Cow-berry ; nor do the essential 

 diflerences end here ; for, while the one belongs to the class 

 Octandria, and to the groupe of our Blueberries, Whortle- 

 berries, &c., the other ranges under the class Decandria, and 

 represents the Arbutus family, under which name, indeed? 

 until quite lately it was known in its Generic appellation. 



The Arbutus-groupe are well known to florists for their 

 beauty ; and of the Arbutus U>a-U'rsi, (our Arctosta'phy- 

 Los U'va-U'rsi,) we are told, by Loudon, that it is an abun- 

 dant species " in many parts of Europe, especially the Alpine 



