344 THE HEATH FAMILY. 



II. ARBUTUS. AUBUTUS. 



Shrubs or trees, with alternate, entire or toothed, evergreen leaves ; the 

 flowers in terminal panicles. Calyx inferior, of 5 small sepals. Corolla 

 ovoid, enclosing the 10 stamens. Ovary of 5 cells, with several seeds in 

 each. Fruit an indehiscent berry. 



A small genus, chiefly American, with 2 or 3 Asiatic species, one of which 

 extends into Europe. 



1. Common Arbutus. Arbutus Unedo, Linn. 

 (Eug. Bot. t. 2377. Arhtitus. Stratvberry-tree.) 



An evergreen shrub or bushy tree, the young shoots often hairy, but other- 

 wise glabrous. Leaves shortly stalked, ovate or oblong-lanceolate, toothed, 

 and shining on the upper side, 2 to 3 inches long. Flowers in small, 

 di-ooping terminal panicles, scarcely so long as the leaves, of a greenish 

 white, often tinged with pink. Berry red, globular, and granulated, so as 

 at a distance to resemble a strawberry, but dry and without flavour. 



Frequent in hilly districts of southern Europe, extending eastward almost 

 if not quite to the Caucasus, and ascending along the western coast of Eu- 

 rope to Ireland, where it is abundant about the lakes of KiUamey, but not 

 indigenous to any part of Great Britain. Fl. autumn. 



The A . Andrachne, from western Asia, and A. procera, from north-west 

 America, are often planted in our gardens. 



III. BEARBERRV. AECTOSTAPHYLOS. 



Low, creeping, or straggling shrubs, with alternate, entire or toothed 

 leaves, and rather small flowers, 2 or 3 together, in short terminal racemes. 

 Calyx, corolla, and stamens of Arhutus, but the ovary has but one ovule in 

 each cell. Fruit a berry, with 5 or fewer seeds. 



A considerable American genus, with a very few Asiatic and European 

 species. 



Leares evergreen, shining, and Box-like 1. Common B. 



Leaves strongly veined, withei-ing away at the end of the year .... 2. Black B. 



1. Common Bearberry. Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi, Spreng. 

 {Arbutus, Eng. Bot. t. 714.) 



The plant has some resemblance to the Cowberry, but is at once knovm 

 by the free ovary and fruit, the sepals bemg at the base of the berry, not 

 crowning it. The procumbent stems form large masses, with numerous 

 shming, evergreen, obovateor oblong leaves, quite entfre, and seldom an inch 

 long. Flowers much like those of the Arbutus, but smaller, from 4 to 6 to- 

 gether, in comijact, drooping termuial racemes. Berries globular, of a bright 

 red, smooth and shinmg. 



On rather dry, heathy, or rocky hills, often covering considerable tracts of 

 ground, and extending over a great part of central and northern Europe, 

 Eussian Asia, and Northern America, to the Arctic Cii-ele. In Britain, 

 confined to Scotland, northern England, and Ireland. FL spring. 



2. Black Bearberry. Arctostaphylos alpina, Spreng. 

 {Arbutus, Eng. Bot. t. 2030.) 

 A low, creeping shrub, with shorter and more herbaceous branches than 



