228 VACCINIACEAE 



bright, cherry-red, somewhat flattened-spherical fruits about 

 14 inch wide with thin, astringent pulp. Each fruit contains 

 5 nutlets more or less grown together into a stone. 



Distribution. — The Bearberry is a sand-loving shrub, which 

 ranges from Newfoundland to Yukon and south to Virginia 

 and Illinois, Colorado and California. In Illinois, it now is 

 found only on the sand areas bordering Lake Michigan in 

 Cook and Lake counties, but formerly it grew, according to 

 records, as far south as Peoria. 



VACCINIACEAE 

 The Huckleberry Family 



The huckleberry family includes shrubs, small trees and a 

 few delicate vines, which bear alternate, simple, sometimes 

 evergreen leaves and perfect flowers, which are either clus- 

 tered or solitary. There are 4 or 5 sepals, 4 or 5 united 

 petals, and twice as many stamens as there are lobes on the 

 corolla. The ovary consists of 4 or 5 united carpels, is in- 

 ferior, 4- to 10-celled, and develops into a pulpy berry or 

 drupe. 



The huckleberry family contains some 300 species, assigned 

 to about 20 genera, and is of very wide geographic distribu- 

 tion. About 7 genera occur in northeastern North America, 

 and 2 are native in Illinois. 



Key to the Shrubby Genera 



Calyx and under surface of the leaves covered with resinous 



scales Gaylussacia, p. 228 



Cah-x and leaves without resinous scales Vaccinium, p. 229 



GAYLUSSACIA Humboldt. Bonpland & Kunth 



The Huckleberries 



The huckleberries are shrubs with deciduous or evergreen, 

 alternate leaves, the blades of which are entire and resinous 

 dotted, and with flowers grouped in axillar}', drooping racemes. 

 The sepals are 5, and the corolla is tubular and 5-lobed and 

 incloses 10 stamens. The ovary is 10-celled and develops into 

 a drupe with a 10-celled stone or with 10 bony nutlets. 



There are about 40 species in this genus, all of them Ameri- 

 can. Only the following is native in Illinois. 



