228 



ERICACEAE. (HEATH FAMILY.) 



* Flowers solitary or 2 to 4 in a fascicle, from a distinct scaly bud, more com- 



monly 4-vierous and 8-androus : leaves entire, sessile or nearly so: limb of the 

 calyx deeply 4 to 5-parted : berries blackish-blue with a bloom. 



1. V. OCCidentale, Gray. A foot or more high, glabrous: leaves glau- 

 cescent, obscurely veiny, from oval to obovate-oblong or oblanceolate, obtuse 

 or acutish : flower mostly solitary from the scaly bud : berry small, barely 

 3 lines in diameter. — Bot. Calif, i. 451. In the Uinta Mountains and west- 

 ward in the Sierra Nevada. 



* * Flowers solitary in the earliest axils, usually 5-merous and 10-ajidrous : calyx 



less or verij slightly lobed. 

 •«- Dwarf and cespitose : branches not angled. 



2. V. CSespitOSUm, Michx. Glabrous or nearly so, 3 to 6 inches high : 

 leaves from obovate to cuneate-oblong, thickly serrulate, bright green both 

 sides, reticulate-veiny (f to 1 inch long) : berry proportionally large, blue 

 with a bloom, sweet. — From the Colorado mountains to Alaska, and east- 

 ward in Labrador and the White Mountains. 



Var. euneifolium, Nutt. A span to near a foot high, bushy : leaves 

 spatulate-cuneate and with rounded apex, passing in one form to spatulate- 

 lanceolate and acute ; the earliest not rarely entire. — Mountains of Colorado 

 to California, British Columbia, and Lake Superior. 



•*- ■•- Low : branches sharply angled and green : leaves small. 



3. V. Myrtillus, L. A foot or less high, glabrous : leaves ovate or 

 oval, thin, shining, serrate, conspicuously reticulated-veiny, and with a promi- 

 nent narrow midrib (^ to §• inch long) : limb of calyx almost entire: corolla 

 globular-ovate : berries black, nodding. — From Colorado and Utah north- 

 ward to Alaska. Known as " AVhortleberry " or " Bilberry." 



Var. microphyllum, Hook. A diminutive form, 3 to 6 inches high: 

 leaves 2 to 4 lines long : corolla proportionally small, a line long : berries at 

 first "light red." — Colorado, Utah, and in the Sierras and northward. 



2. ARCTOSTAPHYLOS, Adans. Beakberry. Manzanita. 



Shrubs with alternate leaves, and small mostly white or rose-colored flowers 

 variously clustered. 



1. A. Uva-ursi, Spreng. Depressed-trailing or creeping, green: leaves 

 coriaceous and evergreen, oblong-spatulate, retuse, an inch or less long, taper- 

 ing into a petiole : flowers rather few in simple small clusters, 2 lines long : 

 ovary and reddish fruit glabrous : nutlets 1-nerved on the back. — From New 

 Mexico to Pennsylvania, California, and northward. Often called " Kinni- 

 kinnick," as well as " Bearberry." 



3. GAULTHERIA, Kalm. Aromatic Wintergreen. 



Shrubs or almost herbaceous ; with broad evergreen leaves, shining above, 

 and usually spicy-aromatic in flavor, axillary white or rose-colored nodding 

 flowers in early summer. 



1. G. Myrsinites, Hook. Cespitose-procumbent or depressed, a few 

 inches high : leaves orbicular or ovate, denticulate with minute bristle-tipped 



