Flora's Lexicon/Cranberry
RANBERRY. Oxycoccus. Class 8, Octandria, Order: Monogynia. This useful berry is very abundant in the United States. It commonly grows in and about the little pools of the swampy moorlands, and the gatherers are often obliged to wade into the water to come at them, so that the pittance they thus win is dearly earned. The botanical name is one of odd sound but good meaning, being oxycoccus, from two Greek words meaning acid and fruit.
HARDINESS.
The Cranberry blossom dwelleth there Amid the mountains cold,Seeming like a fairy gift Left on the dreary wold.
Oh! and ’tis very beautiful, The flowers are pink and white,And the small oval polish’d leaves Are evergreen and bright.
’T is such a wee, fair, dainty thing, You’d think a greenhouse warmWould be its proper dwelling place, Kept close from wind and storm.
But on the moors it dwelleth free Like a fearless mountain child;With a rosy cheek, a lightsome look, And a spirit strong and wild.
The bushes all in water grow, In those small pools that lie .In scores among the turfy knolls On mountains broad and high.
Twamley