HEATH FAMILY 



ERICACEAE HEATH FAMILY 



Gaylussacia dumosa, (Andr.) T. & G. 



Whitish-pink or coral-red 



Dwarf Huckleberry, 



May- June Bush Huckleberry. 



Fruit ripe : July-August 



Gaylussacia: for derivation see baccata. 

 Dumosa: Latin for clustered. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of the Commons. 



THE SHRUB: one foot to two feet high, from horizontal or 

 almost erect base, usually leafless below; the branches 

 nearly erect; the young twigs having short, soft hairs, or 

 longer and stiffer ones. 



THE LEAVES: opposite; oblong, obovate, or oblanceolate; 

 one inch to one and one half inches long; green on both 

 sides; shining when old; sparingly clothed with short hairs 

 or practically hairless; firm or even leathery; obtuse and 

 mucronate at the apex; narrowed at the base; sessile or 

 nearly so; entire. 



THE FLOWERS: in rather loose racemes, bell-shaped. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule, black without bloom, pleasant to 

 the taste. 



This is the low and often loosely growing huckleberry 

 bush of the Commons. The High-bush Huckleberry (Gay- 

 lussacia baccata} is a member of the thicket growth about 

 a damp "kettle hole." 



These Low-bush Huckleberries are inconspicuous in the 

 summer, although by their lustrous green leaves, they add 

 a livelier tone to the sober reds, browns, and yellow-greens 

 of the Commons, but in the fall, their crimson leaves make 

 the hills a rolling contour of flaming scarlet, even to the 

 horizon. 



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