HEATH FAiTTLT. 



211 



ovate, oval, oblong or elliptical-lanceolate, mostly entire ; racemes short, 

 clustered on naked brancblets. 



Corymbose Yaccinttm. Swamp Blueberry. Tall Huckleberry. 



Stemb-S or 10 feet high, often stout, with irregular straggling branches — the roung 

 leafing branches pubescent — the flower-bearing ones somewhat angular , naked and in- 

 clining to a greenish bronze color. Leaves 1-2 inches long, generally elliptic, entire, and 

 always with a short obtuse callous mucro. or point, at apex, pubescent when young, 

 especially on the nerves and under surface, finally smoothish : petioles very short. Race- 

 mes half an inch to an inch long, 6-10 or 12-flowered, proceeding from lateral buds, and 

 unaccompanied with leaves : pedicels 1-fourth to 1-third of an inch long, with purplish bracts 

 at base, which resemble bud-scales. CoroZZa white, mostly tinged with purple, nearly 

 cylindrical, somewhat contracted at the orifice, the lobes short and tooth-Uke. Berries 

 rather large, black with a bluish bloom when mature, very agreeable to the taste. 



Swamps and moist woods : Canada to Georgia. Fl. ilay. Pr. July -August. 



Ohs. This species presents several varieties, which have been consid- 

 ered by some botanists as species diflfering chiefly in the pubescence of 

 the leaf. One variety, var. atrocar'pilin., G-ray, has the leaves downy, 

 even when old. and produces black berries without any bloom. Other 

 species of Yaccinium besides those here enumerated are found in differ- 

 ent portions of the country, but these are the most useful kinds, and 

 descriptions of the others must be sought in works of a more extended 

 scope than the present one. * 



3. AECTOSTA'PHYLOS, Adans. Beaeberry. 



[Greek, ArJdos, a bear, and Slaphyle. a grape.] 



Corolla ovate and urn-shaped, with a short, revolute, 5-toothed limb. 

 Stamens 10, included ; anthers with two reflexed awns on the back near 

 the apex, opening by terminal pores. Drupe berry-like, with 5 seed-like 

 nutlets. Shrubs wfth alternate leaves and scaly'-bracted nearly white 

 flowers in terminal racemes or clusters. Fruit austere. 



L A. TTva-Tir'si, Spreng. Procumbent ; leaves obo- 



vate or spatulate, entire, thick, smooth, evergreen ; fruit ^ Mvl 



Bearberry. Upland Cranberry. TJva-ursi. 



stems branched, trailing on the ground, the sterile branches often 2 - TtT^ 



3 feet long, the flowering ones shorter. Leaves about % of an inch / j\ m 



long, variable in breadth, spreading or somewhat recurved. Flowers lijJlJffl 



drooping ; corolla pale rose color, somewhat transparent at base, hairy wBmjjKm 



inside. Fruit about the size of a' large pea, containing 5 closely-coher- ' 



iag, almost bony nutlets, surrounded by a mealy pulp. I 



Xew Jersey, northward. Ft. May. Fr. August. 1 



Obs. The Bearberry is common in the Northern States 144 I 

 on dry and barren hills, where its prostrate branches '1 

 form dense mats. The leaves are used in medicine ; they are astrin- 

 gent and tonic, and by some are considered to have an effect upon the 



Fig. 144 An enlarged anther of the Bearberry (Arctostaphvlos Uva-ursi) • each of the 

 ceUs prolonged mto a tube with an orifice at the top for the escape of the pollen and fur- 

 nished with an appendage. ' 



