HEATH FAMILY 



leaves. One who has sought and eaten them in child- 

 hood may wander far from his native home, may for- 

 get much of his youth ; but the picture of the leafy 

 glade of the forest where he picked the Wintergreen, 

 the carpet of shining leaves, the twin red berries hang- 

 ing upon their stems, will never leave him. 



The plant has several common names, Tea-berry, 

 Checkerberry, Box-berry, Partridge-berry ; the last is 

 also given to JMitcJiclla repcns. The genus is mountain 

 born and bred ; its headquarters are the slopes of the 

 Andes, where nearh^ one hundred species appear. In 

 North America there is our own GaidtJicria prociunbcns 

 and two or three other species. 



RED BEARBERRY. KINNIKINIC 



Arctostdphylos uva-iirsi. 



Arctostaphylos, of two Greek words — a bear and a grape. 

 Uva-Jirsi means the same ; the fruit is a favorite food of 

 bears. 



Evergreen, with numerous trailing and spreading branches ; 

 the sterile ones two to three feet long, the fruiting branches 

 shorter ; twigs puberulent ; mature stems red. Found on rocky 

 hillsides and in dry sandy soils. Ranges from Labrador to 

 Alaska, south to New Jersey, and westward across the continent 

 through Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado and Califor- 

 nia. Also found in Europe and Asia. Root large and creep- 

 ing; juices astringent; leaves heavily charged with tannic acid. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, thick, rigid, one-half to an inch 

 long, spatulate, obtuse at apex, margin entire, base narrowed to a 

 short downy petiole. They come out of the bud slightly revo- 

 lute, pale, ])ul3escent ; when full grown are dark shining green, 

 glabrous above and beneath. Mid vein prominent, secondary 

 veins finely reticulated. 



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