WINDWARD (wind'ward) ISLANDS, a group of the \\ est Indies forming the southern part of the Lesser Antilles, including Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, Grenada and the Grena dines. They are of volcanic origin. the large islands are mountainous; the lower levels being: generally fertile and producing sugar, cocoa and spices; logwood and other timber are also ob tained. They belong to Great Britain; the gov ernor resides at Saint Georges, Grenada. The islands have no common legislature, laws or tariff ; but there is a common court of ap peal, and they unite for other purposes. (See articles under the names of the individual is lands of the group). As a geographical don sion the Windward Islands include also Bar bados and the other smaller islands lying be tween Saint Lucia and Grenada. The name was applied because the group was the most exposed of the Lesser Antilles to the northeast trade winds.
a Japanese plant (Ruhas pheenicofazius), closely related to the ravbern. with long recurving canes which root at the tips and are clothed with red glandular hairs The leaflets are usually three, white, tomentose be neath, and the flowers are in dense axillars clusters, forming a loose panicle. The heist!, calyx-lobes enlarge in fruit and enclose the immature berry as in a bur. but eventual!. spread apart; the mature fruit is small. so•% cherry-red in color, in flavor insipid or acid The wine-berry is frequent in cultivation and has run wild in some parts of the eastern United States.
The grape, the whortleberry, the gou4e berry and the red and the black currants are called wine-berry; as arc also the edible, berry like fruits of the poisonous toot-plant (Cori». sarmentosa), a large shrub of New Zealand.