Arctostaphylos
(from arktos, a bear, and staphyle, a grape; bears eat the fruit of some species). ORD. Ericaceae. Handsome hardy or half-hardy shrubs or sub-shrubs, agreeing in generic characters with Arbutus, except that the fruit is five-celled and the cells one-seeded, and not granular on the outside. For culture, &c.; see Arbutus.
A. alpina (alpine).* Black Bearberry. fl. white or flesh-coloured, in terminal, reflexed racemes; pedicels rather hairy. April. l. obovate, acute, wrinkled, serrated, deciduous. Stems procumbent, trailing. Scotland (but rare), &c. SYN. Arbutus alpina.
A. nitida (shining).* fl. white; racemes terminal. May. l. oblong-lanceolate, acute, smooth on both sides and shining above. h. 4ft. Mexico, 1839. An erect half-hardy evergreen.
A. pungens (stinging).* fl. white; pedicels close; racemes short, at first terminal, but at length lateral. February. l. ovate-oblong, acute, mucronate, rather pungent, quite entire, coriaceous, clothed with fine down on both surfaces; branchlets angular, downy. h. 1ft. Mexico, 1839. A dwarf, much branched, half-hardy evergreen shrub.
A. tomentosa (tomentose).* fl. pure white, campanulately urceolate, bracteate; peduncles axillary, shorter than the leaves, somewhat capitately racemose. December. l. oval, acute, sub-cordate at the base, clothed with white tomentum beneath, on short petioles; branches hispid. h. 4ft. North-west America, 1826. Shrubby species; hardy.
A. Uva-ursi.* Bearberry. fl. flesh-coloured, with a red mouth, growing in small clusters at the extremities of the branches. April. l. obovate, quite entire, coriaceous, shining. Highlands of Scotland and Wales. A hardy evergreen procumbent trailer. SYN. Arbutus Uva-ursi.