HEATH FAMILY 



Flowers. — May, June. Perfect, small, nodding, white or pink 

 bells, borne in few-flowered terminal racemes. 



Calyx. — Reddish, persistent, live-parted; lobes roundish. 



Corolla. — Ovoid, constricted at the throat, hairy within, flesh 

 colored or white, and pink tipped ; five-toothed ; teeth re- 

 curved, imbricate in bud ; about one-sixth of an inch long. 



Stamens. — Ten, included ; filaments awl-shaped, hairy ; an- 

 thers large, purple, two-awned, opening by terminal pores. 



Pistil. — Ovary free from calyx, surrounded with three fleshy 

 scales. 



Fruit. — Berry-like drupe seated in the persistent calyx, glo- 

 bose, red, glabrous, size of a large pea, with mealy insipid pulp 

 and containing five bony nutlets. They remain on the branches 

 through the winter and serve as food for the wild birds. July, 

 August. 



This low-growing evergreen that trails in thick 

 mats over the inhospitable ground of barren uplands 

 possesses a goodly number of wild-wood names. 

 Very few plants of high degree can claim as many; 

 among them are Foxberry, Mealberry, Bear's Grape, 

 Barren Myrtle and Bilberry. This too is the Kinni- 

 kinic of the western Indians who smoke the leaves 

 and believe the practice secures them from malarial 

 fevers. A curious corruption or an echo of uva-ursi 

 exists in a rural name for the plant " universe." 



The flowers appear in May, and the urn-shaped, 

 flesh-colored, rosy-mouthed bells are succeeded by 

 astringent red berries, mealy and flavorless ; but which 

 have the virtue of staying on the bushes all winter and 

 no doubt comfort and sustain many a hungry bird and 

 possibly an errant bear. In winter the shining leaves 

 darken to chocolate above, and become reddish be- 

 neath. The plant is said to be easily cultivated and 

 will thrive in almost pure sand, 



39* 



