THE HEATH FAMILY 
i3 
flowers, about £ inch long, which bloom at the same time as the fruit, formed the year before, 
ripens. The fruit eventually is of the deepest red, though going through all stages of yellow, 
orange, scarlet, and rose before it reaches its final colour ; it somewhat resembles a strawberry 
in appearance, though not in flavour, as it is most insipid, or in consistency ; its name Unedo, 
“ One I eat,” which was given to it by Pliny, is indicative of its unattractiveness as a food. The 
leaves are shortly stalked, 1^-3 inches long, oblong, acute, and sharply toothed. 
The tree is a favourite in shrubberies and borders ; its creamy-white flowers and clusters of 
gorgeous-coloured berries form a strong contrast against its glossy dark green leaves, and it is 
quite a feature in places such as Bournemouth, where it is largely cultivated. [Plate 4. 
Very rare. Only truly native about the lakes of Killarney. September — October. 
Perennial. 
II. BEAR-BERRY. (ARCTOSTAPH'YLOS. Adans.) — A genus similar to the Strawberry- 
tree (Arbutus), the only essential difference being in the fruit, which is smooth and has only 
1 seed in each of its 5 cells. 
Flowers pink or white, in short terminal clusters (racemes). Calyx of 4 or 5 sepals, united at 
the base, free from the seedcase and inserted below it (inferior) ; corolla globose, with as many 
teeth as there are sepals, not remaining with the fruit (deciduous), inserted below the seedcase 
(hypogynous) ; stamens 8 or xo, the anthers 2-celled, each cell spurred on the back, opening at the 
top by a pore, inserted below the seedcase (hypogynous), generally adhering to the corolla ; 
carpels 4 or 5, united ; fruit a cluster of smooth, 5-celled berries, with 1 seed in each cell. Small 
shrubs or undershrubs with alternate often evergreen leaves. 
(1) Black Bear-berry. (Arctostaph'ylos alpina.) — Flowers white ; berries black; leaves thin, 
toothed, deciduous. 
(2) Red Bear-berry. (Arctostaph'ylos Uva-ur'si.) — Flowers rose-colour ; berries red ; leaves 
thick, entire, evergreen. 
1 . Black Bear-berry. (Arctostaph'ylos alpina. Spreng.)— As just described. The 
flowers are about J inch long, globular, hairy within, white, 2 or 3 together in a drooping 
terminal cluster ; the fruit is a smooth bluish-black berry ; the whole shrub is low and prostrate, 
with strongly veined leaves of a shiny green, which are thin in texture, wrinkled, and toothed, 
falling off in the autumn (deciduous). 
Rare. On dry barren places on mountains and heaths in the centre and north of Scotland and 
in Shetland. May — July. Perennial. 
2. Red Bear-berry. (Arctostaph'ylos Uva-ur'si. Spreng.) — A similar shrub to the 
last, differing in the flowers being rose-coloured and more numerous, there being 4-8 in a 
cluster ; in the berries being shiny and of a bright scarlet ; and in the leaves being thick, leathery, 
and evergreen, with entire margins, and glandular dots on the under surface. This species with 
its prostrate branches thickly covered with the dark shining evergreen leaves often covers large 
tracts of country. 
The leaves are strongly astringent and are still used in medicine, and the berries are a 
favourite food of grouse and moor-fowl. The plant when in fruit might be mistaken for the 
Cowberry (Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea), but is at once recognised by the sepals being at the base of the 
berry, not crowning it as in the Cowberry. [Plate 4. 
Abundant on mountainous heaths from Derby northward to Scotland, Orkney, and Shetland, and 
in Ireland. May — June. Perennial. 
