520 



THE HEATH FAMILY. 



Bilberry V. Common in the Highlands of Scotland, and descends 

 to the northern counties of England, but not recorded from Ireland. 

 Fl. spring. 



3. Cowberry Vaccinium. Vaccinium Vitis-idsea, Linn. 

 (Fig. G20.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 598. Bed 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 ra- 

 cemes. Corolla of a pale flesh-colour, cam- 

 panulate, with spreading but not re- 

 flexed lobes. Berries much resembling 

 those of the Cranberry, for which they 

 are sometimes sold. 



In dry, rocky moors, and heaths, 

 and open woods, in northern and central 

 Europe, Russian Asia, and JSTorth Ame- 

 rica, becoming a mountain plant in 

 southern Europe. In Britain, spread 

 over Scotland, northern and western 

 England, Wales, and Ireland. FL 

 early summer. 



Fig. 620. 



4. Cranberry Vaccinium. Vaccinium Oxycoccos, Linn. 

 (Fig. 621.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 319. 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 



