4. ARCTOSTÁPHYLOS, Adans. Bearberry.
Corolla ovate and urn-shaped, with a short revolute 5-toothed limb. Stamens 10, included; anthers with 2 reflexed awns on the back near the apex, opening by terminal pores. Drupe berry-like, with 5–10 seed-like nutlets.—Shrubs, with alternate leaves, and scaly-bracted nearly white flowers in terminal racemes or clusters. Fruit austere. (Name composed of ἄρκτος, a bear, and σταφυλή, a grape or berry, the Greek of the popular name.)
1. A. Ùva-úrsi, Spreng. (Bearberry.) Trailing; leaves thick and evergreen, obovate or spatulate, entire, smooth; fruit red.—Rocks and bare hills, N. J. and Penn. to Mo., and far north and westward. May. (Eu., Asia.)
2. A. alpìna, Spreng. (Alpine Bearberry.) Dwarf, tufted and depressed; leaves deciduous, serrate, wrinkled with strong netted veins, obovate; fruit black.—Alpine summits in N. Eng., and high northward. (Arctic-alpine around the world.)
5. EPIGÆ̀A, L. Ground Laurel. Trailing Arbutus.
Corolla salver-form; the tube hairy inside, as long as the ovate-lanceolate pointed and scale-like nearly distinct sepals. Stamens 10, with slender filaments; anthers oblong, awnless, opening lengthwise. Style slender, its apex (as in Pyrola) forming a sort of ring or collar around and partly adnate to the 5 little lobes of the stigma. Capsule depressed-globular, 5-lobed, 5-celled, many-seeded.—A prostrate or trailing scarcely shrubby plant, bristly with rusty hairs, with evergreen and reticulated rounded and heart-shaped alternate leaves, on slender petioles, and with rose-colored flowers in small axillary clusters, from scaly bracts. (Name composed of ἐπί, upon, and γῆ, the earth, from the trailing growth.)
1. E. rèpens, L.—Sandy woods, or in rocky soil, especially in the shade of pines, Newf. to Minn., south to Fla., and Ky.—Flowers appearing in early spring, exhaling a rich spicy fragrance, dimorphous as to style and stamens and subdiœcious. In New England called Mayflower.
6. GAULTHÈRIA, Kalm. Aromatic Wintergreen.
Corolla cylindrical-ovoid or a little urn-shaped, 5-toothed. Stamens 10, included; anther-cells each 2-awned at the summit, opening by a terminal pore. Capsule depressed, 5-lobed, 5-celled, 5-valved, many-seeded, enclosed when ripe by the calyx, which thickens and turns fleshy, so as to appear as a globular red berry!—Shrubs, or almost herbaceous plants, with alternate evergreen leaves and axillary (nearly white) flowers; pedicels with 2 bractlets. (Dedicated by Kalm to "Dr. Gaulthier," of Quebec.)
1. G. procúmbens, L. (Creeping Wintergreen.) Stems slender and extensively creeping on or below the surface; the flowering branches ascending, leafy at the summit (3–5´ high); leaves obovate or oval, obscurely serrate; flowers few, mostly single in the axils, nodding.—Cool damp woods, mostly in the shade of evergreens, Maine to Minn., and southward to N. Ga.; also far northward. July.—The bright red berries (formed of the calyx) and the foliage have the well-known spicy-aromatic flavor of the Sweet Birch. Usually called Wintergreen, or sometimes in the interior Tea-berry. Eastward it is often called Checkerberry or Partridge-berry (names also applied to Mitchella, the latter especially so), also Boxberry.