HABITS AND LATIN NAMES OF BRITISH PLANTS. 
473 
Arbutus. — Minshew says it is so called quia crescit inter arbusta , because it 
growes in shrubby places. Tniis derives it from ar, rough, or austere , and 
boist , a bush, in Celtic. Or it may be diminutive of arbor , a tree; as resembling 
a tree in miniature. It is the badge of the Highland Clan Ross. 
Arbutus Alpina , Mountain Strawberry-tree, Black-berried Alpine Arbutus, 
Black Bear-berry.—The berries are smooth, black, of the size and somewhat the 
flavour of black currants, but are not so good. Goats refuse it. 
Arbutus unedo , Common Strawberry-tree.—It is a beautiful evergreen orna¬ 
ment to our shrubberies (where also may be observed pink, and double varieties, 
but the latter are scarcely desirable, as they are incapable of forming the more 
interesting berries), not only on account of its foliage and flowers, but of its fruit, 
which is pleasing to the eye, though not grateful to the taste. The pitcher-shaped 
blossoms contain a delicious repast for Butterflies of various kinds. Frequently 
may they be observed busily engaged with their long and elegant proboscis, 
rifling its hoarded sweets. It has been remarked by Mr. Salisbury, that the 
fruit taking twelve months to come to maturity, this plant exhibits simultane¬ 
ously, and during the depth of winter, the singular phenomenon of lively green 
leaves, beautiful flowers, and brilliant fruit: thus realising the exuberant picture 
of Tasso — 
“ Co fiori eterni , eterno il frutto dura 
E mentre spunta Cun, Valtro matura 
fit emblem of that perpetual spring which, in original perfection, pervaded the 
whole earth, when 
“ Green all the year; and fruits and blossoms blush’d. 
In social sweetness, on the self-same bough.” 
Wheeler observed the fruit in the market at Smyrna ; and at Constantinople it 
is offered for sale threaded on a straw or blade of Grass. The country people, 
however, in Ireland, eat it, but always drink water after it. A warmer climate 
may possibly render the berries more palatable, though the testimony of the 
ancients is not in favour of their being wholesome food; see Pliny, Dioscorides, 
and Galen. The leaves may be usefully employed in tanning leather. Virgil 
alludes to the young branches as winter food for Goats— 
- ' 6 jubeo frondentia Capris , 
Arbuta sufficere j” 
and to its use for making agricultural implements, or basket-work—« 
u Arbutece crates 
while Ovid celebrates its blushing fruit—■ 
.* With never-fading flowers, and ever-during fruit; while the one expands, the other matures. 
—Ed. 
