Vaccinium.] XLV. ERICACEAE, 279 



— A small glabrous shrub, with numerous erect or spreading, angular, 

 green branches, 6 inches to a foot high, or rather more. Leaves deci- 

 duous, ovate, often slightly cordate at the base, seldom an inch long, 

 bordered with small teeth, and scarcely stalked. Flowers nearly glo- 

 bular, of a pale greenish- white, with a tinge of red, growing singly on 

 short recurved pedicels in the axils of the leaves. Berry globular, nearly 

 black, covered with a glaucous bloom, and crowned by the short teeth 

 of the calyx. 



In mountain heaths and woods, in northern and central Europe and 

 Russian Asia, restricted to great mountain-ranges in southern Europe, 

 and usually occupying large tracts of land. Common in Britain, with 

 the exception of the eastern counties. Fl. spring. 



2. V.'uliginosum, Linn. (fig. 627). Bog V. — A smaller plant, more 

 woody and branched than V. Myrtillus, with smaller, obovate, or orbi- 

 cular leaves, quite entire, but thin, deciduous, and much veined, as in 

 that species. The branches are cylindrical, or have scarcely perceptible 

 angles, and are much shorter and not so straight. Flowers rather 

 smaller ; the berries very similar in size and colour. 



In mountain heaths and bogs, in northern and central Europe, Russian 

 Asia, and northern America ; generally restricted to greater elevations 

 than V. Myrtillus. Common in the Highlands of Scotland, and the 

 northern counties of England, but not recorded from Ireland. Fl. 

 spring. 



3. V. Vitis-idsea, Linn. (fig. 628). Red Whortleberry, Cowberry. — 

 Stems much branched, procumbent, and straggling, with numerous ever- 

 green obovate or oblong leaves, like those of the Box. Flowers several 

 together, in short, dense, terminal, drooping racemes. Corolla of a 

 pale flesh-colour, campanulate, with spreading but not reflexed lobes. 

 Berries resembling those of the Cranberry, for which they are some- 

 times sold, 



In dry, rocky moors and heaths, and open woods, in northern and 

 central Europe, Russian Asia, and North America, becoming a mountain 

 plant in southern Europe. In Britain, spread over Scotland, northern 

 and western England, Wales, and Ireland. Fl. early summer. 



4. V. Oxycoccos, Linn. (fig. 629). Cranberry. — Stem creeping, and" 

 very much more slender and wiry than in any of the preceding species. 

 Leaves small, evergreen, ovate or lanceolate, with their edges rolled 

 back, and the under side very glaucous. Flowers drooping, on long, 

 slender peduncles, which have a pair of small bracts below the middle. 

 Corolla deeply divided into 4 lobes, which are very spreading or turned 

 back, exposing the stamens. Berry globular, red, crowned by the 4 

 short teeth of the calyx. 



In peat-bogs, in northern Europe, Asia, and America, and in the high 

 mountain-ranges of central Europe, but not recorded from the Caucasus. 

 In Britain, thinly scattered over the chief part of our islands, but less 

 plentiful than formerly from the drainage of waste lands. M. summer. 

 It is often considered as forming a distinct genus on account of the 

 shape of the corolla. 



