ARBUT US alpina.
Black-berried Alpine Arbutus.
DECANDRIA Monogynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. deeply 5-cleft. Cor. ovate ; its orifice
5 -cleft ; its base transparent. B erry superior, 5-
celled. Anthers with 2 pores.
Spec. Char. Stems procumbent. Leaves rugged, serrated.
Syn. Arbutus alpina. Linn. Sp. P L 5 6 6 . Sm. F l.
B r il. 442. Huds. 177. W ith. 399. H ull. 91.
ed. 2. 1 2 1 . L igh t/. 315. t. 1 1 .J i g . a, b. F l.
Dan. t. 73.
Vaccinia pannonica, sive Vitis Idasa. Ger. em. 1416.
W e are obliged to Mr. G. Don for this wild specimen, gathered
near the head of Loch Traig, Perthshire, between two
high mountains, in a valley covered with common Heath, but
we have been obliged to have recourse to a dried one for the
flowers, scarcely to be received fresh. Still we trust our figure
will not be found incorrect. The berries, which are round
and black, like black currants, resembling them also, it is
said, in flavour, we have not been able to procure.
The woody trailing stems spread widely, clothed with deciduous
bark. Leaves deciduous, alternate, obovate, serrated,
rugged with reticulated veins, smooth, except a fringe at
each side of their, taper base. Flowers in short terminal
clusters, white, ill-drawn by Lightfoot’s artist from a dry
specimen, and not well in the Flora Danica. Each flower-
stalk has an elegant, concave, reddish, fringed bractea at its
base.
We have already observed, in v. 10. p. 714, that Ray confounded
the synonyms of this plant with those of Arbutus
Uva-ursi, nor was Dillenius able to set him right.