ERICACEAE 



white on their undersides. The plant is downy and the 

 turned-under margins of the leaves are fringed with fine 

 hairs. It is important to note as a further mark of iden- 

 tification that the leaves are arranged around the stem in 

 whorls of four." The flowers are all drooping and clus- 

 tered in a dense head at the summit of the stem. 



HEATH FAMILY 



Gaylussacia baccata, (Wang) C. Koch. 



Coral-red 



High-Bush Huckleberry. 

 May-June 



Fruit ripe, July 



Gaylussacia: named for the chemist, Gay-Lussac. 

 Baccata: Latin, meaning berry-like. 



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



THE SHRUB: low, one foot to two feet high, much branched; 

 the stem having few, short hairs. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; ovate or oblong, shining and 

 thickly covered with resinous globules; obtuse at the apex; 

 narrowed at the base. 



THE FLOWERS: small, on one side of the stem, in racemes; 

 corolla cylindrical, with five short spreading lobes. 



THE FRUIT: a drupe, black, sweet-tasting. 



"Although a low and inconspicuous shrub, this huckle- 

 berry has much to do with giving character to the Nan- 

 tucket landscape. Outspread along the hills in distant 

 view, its foliage blends into heaths of brassy or golden 

 green in effective contrast with the more sombre tones of 

 colour spread in broad patchwork about it." 



281 



