100 



Edible Wild Fruits of New York. 



when fully ripe. Samples of the berries from the southern part of the 

 State were once received at the State Herbarium with the remark that 

 the people in that locality called them "high cranberries" and gath- 

 ered them for preserves. It is not at all improbable that when well 

 ripened they may make good jelly or preserves, even if the uncooked 

 fruit is scarcely agreeable. It is quite possible that by cultivation 

 the flavor of the fruit may be improved, and I suspect from its habit 

 that it is a shrub that will easily submit to cultivation. 



New York has two species of cranberry. Both species inhabit cool, 

 sphagnous marshes, wet bogs and the summits of high mountains. 

 Both have very slender prostrate or trailing stems from which spring 

 upright, leafy, fruiting branches a few inches high. The large or 

 common cranberry ( Vaccinium macrocarpon) is more abundant and 

 more valuable than the other, though Dr. Torrey remarks that the 

 small cranberry is preferred for tarts. Its leaves are larger, more 

 blunt and less revolute on the margin than those of the small 

 cranberry, its flowers and fruit are lateral on the branches, or soon 

 become so by prolongation of the branch. It has somewhat recently 

 been brought under cultivation and now gives value to large areas of 

 boggy, marshy land that formerly was considered almost worthless. 

 By reason of the lateness and firmness of the fruit it can be safely 

 shipped to market in boxes and barrels. Already two or three varie- 

 ties, based on difference in the shape of the fruit, are advertised by 

 nurserymen, thus showing very early the tendency to the development 

 of cultivated varieties. The small cranberry ( Vaccinium oxycoccus) 

 has the flowers and fruit terminal on the branches, is smaller in all 

 its parts and its fruit is often, though not always, spotted. In both 

 species the leaves are evergreen, the fruit very sour, firm and late in 

 ripening. 



The well-known wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) whose beau- 

 tiful, bright red berries are often seen in spring time upon the stands 

 of fruit dealers, is another interesting member of the Heath family. 

 The plant is a small one, whose creeping, subterranean stems bear 

 erect, fruiting branches two or three inches high. These bear a tuft of 

 thick evergreen leaves at the top, which have a pleasant, spicy flavor 

 and are sometimes eaten when young. The fruit is developed the 

 same year as the branch that bears it, but it persists through the 

 winter and is in excellent condition in spring or early summer. It is 

 composed largely of the thickened, fleshy calyx which supports and 

 surrounds the ovary. The fruit is rather dry, but of an agreeable, 

 spicy flavor and, if we may judge by the number of common and local 



