In the same order is the Common Ling (_Calluna vulgaris_)--a straggling shrub, from one to three feet high, bearing rose-coloured, lilac or white flowers from July to September. This shrub may be identified at once by its leaves, which are very small, and closely overlapping in four rows. Its flowers are small, drooping, shortly stalked, each with two pairs of small bracts at its base; and are arranged in irregular, leafy racemes on the topmost branches.
Still in the same order (_Ericaceæ_), but quite distinct from the Heaths, are a few moorland shrubs the berries of which are largely eaten by the country-folk. They belong to the genus _Vaccinium_, and have scattered, deciduous or evergreen leaves. We have noticed that in the heaths the ovary is superior, but in the present genus it is inferior; that is, it is situated below the calyx and corolla, which parts are attached to its upper border. The calyx has four or five lobes; and the corolla, which is bell-shaped or pitcher-shaped, has the same number of lobes or teeth. The stamens, eight or ten in number, are usually rendered peculiar by the tubular bristles that extend upwards from the anther cells. The berries are globular or nearly so, and contain several seeds. Some species of this genus are rare, but three, at least, may be included here. They are--
1. The Whortleberry or Bilberry (_Vaccinium Myrtillus_).--A smooth shrub, from six to eighteen inches high, common everywhere except in some of the eastern counties, flowering from April to June. Its stem is erect or spreading, branched, green, and sharply angular. The leaves are shortly stalked, ovate, serrate, seldom more than an inch long; and the flowers are nearly globular, with small teeth, drooping on short stalks, and placed singly in the axils of the leaves. They are of a greenish rose or flesh-colour, often tinged with red, and have a very waxy appearance.
2. The Great Bilberry or Bog Whortleberry (_Vaccinium uliginosum_).--A smaller and more woody shrub, from six to ten inches high, growing only in the moorland bogs of North Britain. Its stem and branches are round or scarcely angular, and usually procumbent and crooked. The leaves are small, obovate or round, entire, thin, deciduous, with the veins strongly marked on the under side; and the flowers are globular, of a pale pink colour, smaller than those of the last species. This species flowers during May and June.