236 SAPOTACEAE 



it now exists in the state, and is limited to the extreme north- 

 east corner. It has been reported only in Lake and McHenry 

 counties. 



VACCINIUM OXYCOCCUS Linnaeus 

 Small Cranberry 



The Small Cranberry, fig. 61, is a low, trailing shrub, with 

 slender, creeping stems that root at the nodes and send up light 

 to dark brown branchlets, which slough oft their bark but are 

 at first completely pubescent. The leaves are evergreen, oblong 

 to ovate, about 14 i^^ch long and about l/^ inch wide. The blade 

 is acute or obtuse at the apex, rounded at the base, and pro- 

 vided with an entire, revolute margin, which is ciliate. The 

 leaf surface is dark green and smooth on the upperside and 

 smooth but glaucous on the underside, and the petioles are 

 very short. 



The pinkish flowers are borne up to 4 together in terminal 

 racemes, which often end in a leafy shoot, and the flower pedi- 

 cels, which may be l/^ to 2 inches long, bear 2 usually colored 

 bracts set, as a rule, below the middle of the pedicel. Blossom- 

 ing occurs about the middle of June, and fruit matures in 

 autumn as a reddish, globose, sour but edible berry somewhat 

 more than 14 inch in diameter. 



Distribution. — The Small Cranberry is a bog shrub that 

 ranges from Maine to Saskatchewan and southward to North 

 Carolina and Minnesota. In Illinois, it is exceedingly rare. 

 There is but a single report of its presence, that of its occur- 

 rence in Cedar Lake bog in Lake County. Perhaps it might be 

 found in other tamarack bogs in the same region. 



SAPOTACEAE 



The Sapodilla Family 



The sapodilla family consists of shrubs and trees, which 

 sometimes are thorny and bear alternate, entire, estipulate 

 leaves, and perfect or, rarely, polygamous, clustered flowers. 

 The sepals, 4 to 12 in number, are arranged in 1 or 2 series, 

 and the corolla ends in 4 lobes, which are deciduous. The 

 stamens correspond in number to the corolla lobes and are 

 adnate to the corolla tube opposite the lobes. The ovary con- 



