6 4 



A. alpina — The black bearberry. Gaelic : grainnseag dhubh r 

 the black grain-like beny. 



A. unedo — Strawberry-tree Irish : caithne (O'Donovan). 

 Caithim, I eat or consume. 



Vaccinium myrtillus — Whortleberry. Gaelic: /us nan dearc,. 

 the berry plant (dearc} a berry). Geur-dhearc, sour berry. 

 Fraochan, that which grows among the heather. The berries are 

 used medicinally by the Highlanders, and made into tarts and 

 jellies, which . last is mixed with whisky to give it a relish for 

 strangers. Dear can- fithich, the raven's berries. It dyes blue. 



V. vitis - idsea — Cowberry ; red whortleberry ; Gaelic : /us 

 nam braoighleag. Irish: braigh/eog (from braigh, top, summit, a 

 mountain), the mountain-plant ; ordinary signification, a berry. 

 Bodhearc, cowberry. (" Bo, a cow, from which the Greeks- 

 derived /3oos, an ox " — Armstrong.) Latin : vacca and vaccinium. 



" Do leacan chaoimhneil gu dearcach braoighleagach." 

 Thy gentle slopes abounding with whortleberries and cowberries. 



Badge of Clan Chattan septs 



Andromeda polifolia — Ros-Mairi fiadhaich (Logan), marsh, 

 andromeda. The Gaelic name means " the wild rosemary.'' The 

 rosemary belongs to a different order (Labiates). The Andro- 

 meda grows among our peat bogs from Perthshire southward - r 

 from 6 to 1 2 inches in height ; leaves very leathery ; with white 

 or pink bell, or rather heath-like flowers. It produces a very 

 acrid narcotic, which proves fatal to sheep. 



The badge of Clan Rose. 



V. oxycoccos — Cranberry. Gaelic and Irish : muileag, a word 

 meaning a little frog ; the frogberry. It flourishes best in boggy 

 situations. Fraochag, because it grows among the heather. 

 Monog, bog or peat berry. Mionag, the small berry. "The- 

 cruibin is the cranberry." — Ed. Gaelic Journal. Manx: smeyr 

 ckyree, the sheep's bramble. 



Badge of the Macaulays. 



V. uliginosum — The bogberry. Gaelic : dearc roide, the gall 



1 Originally from dearc, the eye; Sanslc, darf, to see. The dark fruit 

 resembling the pupil of the eye — hence the frequent comparisons of the eye- 

 (sitil) to this fruit (dearcag) in Gaelic poetry. 



