328 VACCINIACEAE 



oblanceolate, 1-2 cm. long, entire, acutish or obtusish at the apex, narrowed toward the base, 

 dull green and pale on both surfaces, or glaucescent beneath, obscurely reticulate ; flowers mostly 

 solitary, or 2 together; calyx 4-5-lobed, the lobes deltoid, acute or acutish, about 1 mm. long; 

 corolla white or pinkish, oblong-ovoid, the very short lobes recurved; stamens 8-10; berry 

 blue-black, with a bloom, globose or subglobose, 4-5.5 mm. in diameter, sweetish, but of rather 

 poor quality. 



Bogs and swamps, Boreal Zones; Cascade Mountains, British Columbia, southward, mostly on the eastern 

 slopes of the Cascades to the Siskiyou Mountains and the southern Sierra Nevada, California; also in scattering 

 stations in the mountains of eastern Washington and Oregon, extending to Montana, Utah and Nevada. Type 

 locality: Sierra Nevada, at 6,000 or 7,000 feet, from Mariposa County to Sierra County, California. June-July. 



4, Vaccinium caespitosum Michx. Dwarf Bilberry or Dwarf Huckleberry. 



Fig. 3740. 



l^acciniutn caespitosum Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer. 1 : 234. 1803. 



Depressed or tufted dwarf shrubs, 5-30 cm. high, with minutely puberulent or usually glabrous, 

 terete branchlets. Leaves obovate, oblanceolate, 1-3 cm. long, rounded to acute at apex, cuncate 

 at base, usually glossy green above, serrulate especially toward the apex, the teeth tipped by a 

 bristle-like hair ; flowers solitary in the axils, nodding on short curved pedicels ; calyx-lobes ob- 

 scure, appearing merely as undulations ; corolla ovoid-urceolate, 5-6 mm. long ; stamens 8-10 ; 

 berry blue-black, with a bloom, globose, 3-6 mm. in diameter, sweet and palatable. 



Wet meadows and moist rocky ridges. Boreal Zones; Alaska southward to northwestern California and the 

 southern Sierra Nevada, eastward to New England. Type locality: northernmost America, particularly Hudson 

 Bay. June-July. 



The Sierra Nevada plants have been described as a distinct species (Vaccinium nivictum Camp, Brittonia 

 4: 211. 1942). They are characterized mainly by their glaucous instead of bright green leaves, but intermediates 

 are found in the Cascade Mountains. Type locality: Desolation Valley, Eldorado County, California. 



Vaccinium caespitosum var. arbuscula A. Gray, Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 2': 24. 1878. (Vaccinium arbuscula 

 Merriam, N. Amer. Fauna 16: 159. 1899.) Erect and bushy, 4-6 dm. high, with reddish branches. Mount 

 Shasta and Plumas County, California, at lower altitudes, mostly near the border of the Transition and Canadian 

 Zones. Type locality: Plumas County, without definite locality. 



5. Vaccinium deliciosum Piper. Rainier Bilberry or Blue-leaved Huckleberry. 



Fig. 3741. 



yaccinium deliciosum Piper, Mazama 2: 103. 1901. 



Low densely branched shrub, 1-3 dm. high, glabrous throughout, the branchlets obscurely 

 angled. Leaves obovate or rarely broadly elliptic, 15-35 mm. long, pale green, acutish or acute 

 at the apex, mostly cuneate at the base, distinctly crenately serrulate above the middle, pale green 

 above, glaucescent beneath ; flowers solitary in the axils, nodding on curved pedicels of about 

 equal length ; calyx-lobes 5, appearing as mere undulations ; corolla pinkish, 5-6 mm. long, 

 subglobose; stamens 10; berries blue-black, with a bloom, globose to pyriform, 6-7 mm. in 

 diameter, sweet and palatable. 



Alpine meadows, Hudsonian Zone; Olympic and Cascade Mountains, Washington, to the Three Sisters, 

 Cascade Mountains, Oregon. Type locality: Mount Rainier. This species has been confused with the Old World 

 V accinium Myrtillus L. to which it is very closely related. July. 



6. Vaccinium membranaceum Dougl, Mountain Bilberry or Blue Huckleberry. 



Fig. 3742. 



Vaccinium myrtilloides var. macrophylla Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer. 2: 32. 1834. 



Vaccinixim membranaceum Dougl. ex Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer. 2: 32. 1834, as a synonym; Torr. Bot. Wilkes Exp. 



377. 1878. 

 yaccinium macrophyllum Piper, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. H: 443. 1906. 



Erect branching shrub, 1-2 m. high, glabrous throughout, the twigs slightly angled. Leaves 

 ovate to oval or obovate, 2-6 cm. long, varying from acute to obtuse or occasionally rounded at 

 apex, rounded or slightly cuneate at base, serrulate, thin and rather membranaceous, green above, 

 paler beneath ; petioles 1-2 mm. long ; flowers solitary in the axils ; pedicels recurved in flower, 

 erect in fruit, usually much exceeding the flowers ; calyx entire or undulate-margined ; corolla 

 yellowish, depressed-globose or globose-urceolate, 4-5 mm. in diameter ; berry dark wine-colored 

 or purplish black, without bloom, globose, 7-10 mm. in diameter, subacid, aromatic, and of 

 delicious flavor. 



Coniferous forests, Canadian Zone; British Columbia to northern Michigan, Wyoming, and northern Cali- 

 fornia. Common in the Pacific States and extending as far south as Humboldt County and the Siskiyou Moun- 

 tains, California. Type locality: "Summit of the high mountains of the Grand Rapids" (Cascades of the Columbia). 

 June-July. 



Vaccinium cocclnium Piper, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 31: 75. 1918. Erect shrub, 1-1.5 m. high, with 

 slightly angled branchlets. Leaves 2-3 cm. long, thin-membranaceous, bright green on both surfaces, reticulate- 

 veined beneath, mostly obovate, acute or acutish, short-petioled, serrulate, minutely puberulent on the veins above, 

 sparingly glanduliferous beneath and each serration tipped with a similar hair; flowers solitary on short stout 

 pedicels; calyx obscurely lobed; berry bright red, 6-8 mm. in diameter, depressed-globose. A little-known species 

 in the Canadian Zone of the Siskiyou Mountains, southern Oregon. Perhaps only a red-berried form of Vac- 

 cinium membranaceum Dougl. Type locality: Steve Peak, Josephine County, Oregon, on sandy slopes and ridges, 

 5,200 feet altitude. 



