274 



THE STRAWBERRY-TREE. 



Arbutus unedo. 

 Natural Order — Ericace^. 

 Class — Decandria. Ore^er— Monogynia. 



This beautiful evergreen shrub is better known by its 

 ancient name of Arbutus^ than by the name which it 

 derives from the fruit to which its berries bear a con- 

 siderable resemblance. It is frequently mentioned by the 

 Latin poets as an ornamental tree, which added much 

 grace to the wild rocky scenery of Italy, affording a 

 shady retreat to the weary traveller, and food to the 

 wild goat. 



We learn from Pliny that it was also called Unedo, or 

 One-I-eat, the fruit not being nice enough to tempt any 

 one to taste a second. He also notices the similarity 

 between its fruit and that of the strawberry, for he says 

 that it is the only tree which bears fruit like ground-fruit. 

 He also states, but not on his own authority, that in 

 Arabia it attains an extraordinary height, evidently con- 

 founding it with some other tree. 



The Arbutus is a native of the mountainous districts of 

 Southern Europe and N'orthern Africa, and of many parts 

 of Asia. In England it only appears in the shrubbery 

 and park. Among the rocky cliffs of Mount Edgecumbe, 

 in Devonshire, it flourishes in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of the sea, but it never attains the dimensions of a 

 tree. In Ireland it grows in great abundance about the 

 hills and islands of Killarney ; and here it is undoubtedly 

 Avild, though unfounded stories are told of its having been 

 introduced by the monks of St. Finnian in the sixth 



1 The correct pronunciation of Arbutus unedo is with the accent 

 on the iirst syllable of each word. 



