THE WHORTLEBERRY— continued. 
This species, which is represented on our Plate, was described as Vitis ld<sa, the 
Grape of Mount Ida, by Dal£champs in 1586, and as Myrtillus, the little Myrtle, 
by several of the early botanists. The latter name may refer partly to the form 
of the leaves, the Myrtle ( Myrtus communis Linn6) being, from an early date, a 
plant familiar in cultivation throughout Europe, or wholly to the fruit, the Myrtle- 
berry having been commonly imported in mediaeval times and employed both in 
medicine and in confectionery. This is the origin of the name Whortleberry or 
Hurtberry and of the local form Huckleberry which, familiar to some of the Pilgrim 
Fathers of New England, has become the general American name for various 
allied species. France has the name Myrtille , while the German Heidelsbeere is 
the equivalent of our Whinberry or Whimberry , the berry on heaths : Bilberry , like 
the Danish B'dllebUr , means the dark or black berry ; and our northern Blaeberry , 
or blue berry, appears also in the Icelandic Blaber. 
The smooth polished and angular green branches assist the leaves as organs 
for the assimilation of atmospheric carbon-dioxide ; while the small, thin, erect 
leaves, with their polished surfaces and serrate margins, are typical examples of the 
“ snow-leaves ” which are adapted to separate the crystals of occasional snow-flakes, 
so that they may melt without damaging the leaf. When young, the leaves are 
of a lovely rosy hue and in autumn they often turn to a vivid scarlet. The 
wax-like flowers, produced from April to June, are solitary and vary in colour 
from a pale greenish white to a deep red. The five sepals at the summit of the 
top-shaped inferior ovary are scarcely discernible, and the corolla is so constricted at 
the mouth of its bell as to leave a very narrow entrance for the proboscis of 
honey-seeking insects. A plentiful supply of honey is, however, secreted by a 
ridge round the summit of the ovary and attracts many humble-bees and especially 
the wasp Vespa rufa. The stout filaments of the ten stamens spring from between 
this “ epigynous disk ” and, curving inwards, forcibly press the pores of the anthers 
against the columnar style. The anther-chambers resemble long-necked retorts 
with outward-curving awns at the junction between the body of the anther and the 
tubular neck. The stigma projecting at the mouth of the corolla still further 
narrows the opening and is bound to receive any pollen on the head of the visiting 
insect. The dark blue, or very rarely white, berry is protected from wet, like the 
fruits of the Plum and the Grape, by a glaucous excretion of wax or bloom, and 
is an important article of food for the game birds of moor and woodland, by which 
means the seeds are widely dispersed. 
Preferring peat or siliceous to calcareous soil, this species extends to altitudes 
of 4,000 feet in Scotland ; but is dwarfed when above 3,000 feet. It forms a 
strikingly characteristic feature in several very different types of vegetation — on 
heaths, sometimes pale and stunted under the Ling ; growing but not flowering 
under Beech ; as a dominant species in dry Oak woods ; or with Bracken under 
Pines ; on exposed peat-moors ; or bare rocky granite mountain-sides. 
