ERICACEAE. 21 
Bootstock creeping. Stems filiform, prostrate, rooting at the 
base, much branched. Leaves very shortly stalked, ovate or lan- 
ceolate or elliptical, with rather broad revolute margins, entire, 
acute, deep shining- green above, glaucous beneath, glabrous. 
Flowers drooping, solitary or 2 to 5 together. Peduncles 1-ilowered, 
erect, elongate, slender, pubescent, at length glabrous, springing 
from the extremity of the branches, with ovoid hooded scales at 
the base, and 2 small subscarious oblanceolate bractcoles below 
the middle. Calyx i-toothed, with the teeth semicircular, cili- 
ated. Corolla rotate, 1-partite, with the lobes oblong-strapshapcd, 
reflexed. Anther-cells produced into 2 long tubes, with pores at 
the apex, without awns. Berry red. 
In wet bogs, Bather thinly but widely distributed over the 
whole of Britain ; most plentiful in the North of England and 
South of Scotland, extending North to Aberdeen, Eastern Boss, 
and Benfrewshire. 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Shrub. Late Summer. 
Stems wiry, varying in length, creeping amongst Sphagnum, 
with small spreading coriaceous evergreen leaves, rarely more than 
£ inch long. Pedicels f to 1J inch long, red. Corolla scarcely 
J inch long, dark-rose. Eilaments very short, pubescent, purplish. 
Berries about the size of a red currant, but of a deeper colour. 
Plant glabrous, except the shoots of the year and the pedicels. 
Marsh Cranberry. 
French, Airelle Cannebcnje. German, Moosbeere. 
The specific name of this plant appears to have been derived from two Greek 
words, olvr (oxus), sharp, and kokkoq (kokkos), a berry, in reference to the sharp and acid 
taste of the berries. The common name Cranberry may have originated iu the fact 
that the peduncles of the flowers are crooked at the top, and before the expansion 
of the flowers resemble the head and neck of a crane ; or it may be that the 
fmit is much eaten by cranes in the low marshy spots where it grows. From very 
ancient times Cranberries have been used for culinary purposes. In summer they form 
a cool aud refreshing drink, and in winter they are made into tarts and pies. Lai-ge 
quantities of the fruit are imported from Russia aud Sweden packed in tubs : those 
grown there are larger and of a brighter colour than ours, and possess less of a medicinal 
flavour. During the latter part of the last century, Cranberries from Lincolnshire and 
the north-west corner of Norfolk were sold in the streets of Norwich by cartloads ; 
but the agricultural improvements in these counties have destroyed their native bogs, 
aud we now seldom see English Cranberries in the market. 
illoch tells us that from Russia and America we annually import from .30,000 
to 35,000 gallons of Cranberries. The berries are powerfully acid and astringent, and 
have a j eculiar flavour very much liked by some people. If carefully bottled, Cran- 
