VACCIN'IUM VI'TIS IB'MA. 
Var. majus. 
COWBERRY. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
ERICACE^. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Habit. 
Introduced 
N. America. 
9 inches. 
Mar. June. 
Shrub. 
Unknown. 
No. 664. 
The origin of the word Vaccinium has been a 
question of uncertainty amongst critics, but is gen- 
erally believed to be but a changed spelling of bac- 
cinium, which may have been applied to a plant 
from its bearing baccae, berries. Vitis idaea rubra 
is a name which was used for this plant by old bot- 
anists. 
The small variety of this plant is the red Wortle- 
berry of Scotland, Wales, and the North of Eng- 
land ; found on stony turfy heaths and in moun- 
tainous woods. It is a little close-growing ever- 
green shrub, not unlike dwarf box; and when or- 
namented with its delicate pale pink flowers is very 
ornamental in the front of larger shrubs, or even 
amongst herbaceous plants. 
This plant will live and flower in almost every 
sort of soil ; but to have it in perfection it must be 
planted in a good sandy peat, in a shady situation. 
Here it will spread by runners and produce fruit 
abundantly. The fruit of the common variety is 
gathered in many parts of Britain, and although 
rather austere and bitter, makes, after being preser- 
• ved, a very palatable tart. 
Don’s Syst. Bot. v. 3, 855. 
Class. 
OCTANDBIA. 
