24 ERICACEAE. Vacdnium. 



* * Flower? solitary in the earliest axils, usually 5-merous and 10-androus : calyx less or very 

 slightly lobed. 



i Dwarf and cespitose : branches not angled. 



V. CEespitosum, Michx. Glabrous or nearly so, 3 to 6 inches high : leaves from obo- 

 vate to cuneate-oblong, obtuse or rarely acutish, thickly serrulate, bright green both sides, 

 reticulate-veiny (one to three-quarters inch long): corolla ovate or ovoid-oblong: berry 

 proportionally large, blue with a bloom, sweet. Hook. Fl. ii. 33, t. 12(5 ; & Bot. Mag. t. 

 3420. Hudson's Bay and Labrador, alpine summits of White Mountains of New Hamp- 

 shire, and Colorado Rocky Mountains to Alaska. 



Var. arbuscula. Erect and a foot high, much branched : leaves obovate, thicker, 

 little exceeding half an inch in length : flowers and berries rather smaller. Sierra 

 Nevada, California, in Plumas Co., Mrs. Austin. In Oregon passes into the ordinary form 

 and into the following. 



Var. CUneifolium, Nutt. A span to near a foot high, bushy : leaves spatulate- 

 cuneate and with rounded apex, passing in one form (var. angustifolium, Gray, Proc. Am. 

 Acad. viii. 393) to spatulate-lanceolate and acute ; the earliest not rarely entire. Mem. 

 Am. Phil. Soc. n. ser. viii. 262. Mountains of Colorado and Utah to California, British 

 Columbia, and east to Lake Superior. 



-1 -1 Low: branches sharply angled and green: leaves small. 



V. Myrtillus, L. (WHORTLEBERRY, BILBERRY.) Afoot or less high, glabrous : leaves 

 ovate or oval, thin, shining, serrate, conspicuously reticulated-veiny, and with a prominent 

 narrow midrib (in ours half to two-thirds inch long) : limb of calyx almost entire: corolla 

 globular-ovate: berries black, nodding. Schk. Ilandb. t. 107 ; Reichenb. Ic. Germ. I.e. 

 t. 11GO; Hook. Fl. ii. 33. V. myrtilfaides, Watson, Bot. King Exp. 209, not of others. 

 Rocky Mountains, extending as far south as Colorado and N. E. Utah, and north-west to 

 Alaska. (Eu., Asia.) 



Var. microphyllum, Hook. 1. c. ; a remarkable diminutive form, 3 to G inches 

 high : leaves 2 to 4 lines long : corolla proportionally small, a line long : berries at first 

 "light red." Higher Rocky Mountains, south to Colorado and Utah, and in the Sierra 

 Nevada, California, down to 7000 feet. 



H -1 H Mostly taller or tall, with spreading branches. 



V. myrtilloid.es, Hook. (Gray). Glabrous or glabrate, 1 to 5 feet high: branchlets 

 slightly angled: leaves ovate or oval and oblong, sharply serrulate, membranaceous, green 

 both sides, but not shining, loosely reticulate-veiny, an inch or two long, the larger or later 

 mostly acute or acuminate : limb of calyx entire : corolla depressed-globular or se'mi- 

 globose-urceolate (nearl}' 2 lines long and broad, yellowish or greenish-white with a purple 

 tinge): pedicel erect in fruit: berry purplish-black, rather acid. Gray, Man. ed. 5, 291. 

 V. myrtilloides, partly, Hook. Fl. ii. 32, & Bot. Mag. t. 3477 (excl. syn. Ait., c. and var. 

 ntjidnm}, not Michx.! (which is T". Pennsylcanicum, var. angustifolium). V. membranaceum, 

 ])ougl. ined. ; Torr. Bot. Wilkes Exp. 377, the larger-leaved coast form ( V. myrtiUoides,v&r. 

 membranaceum, Hook. 1. c.). Damp woods, Lake Superior to the coast of Oregon and 

 British Columbia. There is nothing to prevent the retention of this specific name, 

 going back only to Hooker, and excluding the original of Michaux. 



V. OValifolium, Smith. Glabrous and glaucescent, 4 to 12 feet high, straggling: 

 branchlets more or less angled : leaves oval, mostly obtuse or rounded at both ends, merely 

 mucronulate, entire or with a few irregular serratures, pale or glaucous, at least beneath 

 (one or two inches long): corolla globose-ovoid: pedicel nodding in fruit: berries blue 

 with a bloom. Rees Cycl. 1. c. ; Hook. Fl. ii. 33, t. 127; Gray, Man. 1. c. V. Chamissonis, 

 Bong. Sitk. 525. Woods, Lake Superior (on the south shore, Robbins), and Oregon to 

 Unalaschka. (Japan.) 



V. parvifolium, Smith, I. c. Glabrous, glaucescent, 6 to 12 feet high and straggling : 

 branches and branchlets slender, sharply and conspicuously angled, green, articulated: 

 leaves oblong or oval, obtuse or rounded at both ends, pale and dull, especially beneath, 

 entire, one to three-quarters inch long : calyx 5-lobed : corolla globular : pedicel nodding 

 in fruit : berries light red, rather dry, hardly edible. Hook. 1. c. t. 128. Shady and low 

 woods, northern part of California, near the coast, to Alaska and Aleutian Islands. 



4. VITIS-ID^E'A, Koch. Corolla, ovary, &c., as in the preceding section : 

 filaments hairy : anthers awnless (at least in ours) : leaves coriaceous and per- 



