HUCKLEBERRY FAMILY 327 



L VACCINIUM L. Sp. PI. 349. 1753. 



Small or medium-sized shrubs, with terete or angled branchlets. Leaves alternate, 

 mostly thin and deciduous, more or less coriaceous and persistent. Flowers axillary, soli- 

 tary or in small clusters, pedicellate. Calyx-limb entire or with 4 or 5 small teeth. Corolla 

 globose or ovoid and more or less urceolate. Stamens twice as many as corolla-lobes, 

 included ; filaments glabrous or pubescent ; anthers awned on the back or awnless ; pollen- 

 sacs prolonged into an elongated tube at the apex. Ovary 4-5-celled, without false par- 

 titions. Fruit berry-liUe, red, blue, or blue-black, with or without a bloom. [Classical 

 name of the Bilberry.] 



A genus of approximately 150 species, of which about 25 are natives of the United States. Type species, 

 yacnnitim Myrtillus L. 



Leaves thick, coriaceous, persistent; filaments hairy. (Section Viti.t-Idaea) \- V. ovatum. 



Leaves not coriaceous, deciduous, sometimes tardily so in young plants of V. parvifolium; filaments glabrous. 

 (Section Euvaccinium) 

 Flowers in clusters of 2-4; calyx-limb deeply 4-5-lobed, the lobes about equaling the tube. 



Leaves rather thick, prominently veined, obtuse or retuse at the apex. 2. V. uligiosum. 



Leaves thin, obscurely veined, obtuse or acute at the apex. 3. V. occidentale. 



Flowers solitary in the axils; calyx-limb obscurely lobed, usually merely undulate on the margin. 



Branchlets terete or only slightly angled; leaves revolute, narrowed from the middle or above to the 

 base; berry black with a bloom. 

 Leaves green on both surfaces, somewhat shining above; corolla ovoid; berry 3-5 mm. in diameter. 



4. V. caespttosum. 



Leaves pale green above, glaucescent beneath; corolla globose; berry 6-7 mm. in diameter. 



5. V. dchcwsum. 



Branchlets angled; leaves rounded or only abruptly narrowed at the base. 



Leaves distinctly and finely serrulate, especially above the middle, mostly acute or acutish at the 

 apex. 

 Pedicels 6 mm. or more long; leaves 2 cm. or more in length; berry 6-10 mm. in diameter, 



reddish or black. 6. V. mcmbrnnacrHm. 



Pedicels 1-3 mm. long; leaves seldom more than 1 cm. long; berry bright red, 3-5 mm. in 

 diameter. 7. V. scopanum. 



Leaves entire or only remotely serrulate, usually rounded at both ends. 



Berry black with or without a bloom; corolla pink, ovoid; leaves not strongly reticulate. 



8. y. ovalifolitim. 



Berry bright red; corolla greenish white or greenish yellow, subglobose; leaves prominently 

 reticulate beneath. 9. V. parvtfohum. 



1. Vaccinium ovatum Pursh. Evergreen or Shot Huckleberry. Fig. 3737. 



yaccinium ovatum Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 290. 1814. 

 KafcmiMm lanceolatum Dunal in DC. Prod. 7: 570. 1838. 

 Metagonia ovata Nutt. Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. II. 7: 263. 1843. 



Rigidly erect, much-branched shrubs, 0.5-2 m. or rarely 3 m. high, the branchlets pubescent. 

 Leaves firm-coriaceous, ovate to oblong-lanceolate, acute or acutish at the apex, rounded at base, 

 1^ cm. long, distinctly serrate, glabrous, dark green and shining above, paler beneath, short- 

 petioled, often slightly revolute; flower-clusters mostly axillary; bracts red, deciduous; corolla 

 campanulate, pink to white, 5-7 mm. long ; berry blackish usually without bloom, ovoid or ovoid- 

 globose, 6-9 mm. long, sweetish and edible. 



Humid Transition and coastal Canadian Zones; British Columbia to central California. Type locality: on 

 the Columbia River and on the Northwest Coast. March-June. 



Vaccinium ovatum var. saparosum Jepson, Man. Fl. PI. Calif. 751. 1925. Differs from the species in 

 having pear-shaped berries covered with a glaucous bloom. Occasional with the species throughout its range in 

 California. Type locality: Gualala, Mendocino County. 



2. Vaccinium uliginosum L. Bog Bilberry or Bog Blueberry. Fig. 3738. 



Vaccinium uliginosum L. Sp. PI. 350. 1753. 



Low much-branched shrub, 1-6 dm. high with terete glabrous branches. Leaves 10-25 mm. 

 long, obovate or oblong to oval ; rounded or obtuse at the apex and obscurely mucronate, nar- 

 rowed at the base, entire, firm and thickish, green above, paler beneath and conspicuously reticu- 

 late-veined ; flowers in clusters of 2-4 or sometimes solitary near the ends of the branchlets, 

 pendent on very short pedicels; calyx 4-5-lobcd, the lobes rounded or acutish, 1-1.5 mm. long; 

 corolla pink, ovoid-urceolate, 5-7 mm. long, shallowly 4-5-lobed; stamens 8 or 10; berry blue- 

 black with a bloom, globose, 6-7 mm. in diameter, sweet, but of poor quality. 



In bogs, Hudsonian and Canadian Zones; a circumboreal species, found on the Pacific Coast from Alaska to 

 Humboldt County, California. Usually near the coast, but extending into the Olympic Mountains. What seem 

 to be intermediate forms between this species and the next are on Mount Hood and in the Cascade Mountains of 

 Washington. Type locality: Europe. July. 



3. Vaccinium occidentale A, Gray. Western Blueberry or Western Huckleberry. 



Fig. 3739. 



Vaccinium occidentale A. Gray, Bot. Calif. 1: 451. 1876. 



Low glabrous shrub, 3-6 dm. high, with terete branchlets. Leaves thin but firm, obovate or 



