HEATH FAMILY 



55 



almost entire; pedicels 1 to 2 (or 3) lines long; calyx-limb entire or very sliallowly 

 lobed; corolla ovoid or subglobose, its lobes more or less erosulate; berry red. 



Montane, 6000 to 7000 feet : Siskiyou Co. (rare in California) . North to Alaska. 

 Europe. 



Loc. — Marble Mt., Chandler 1617. 



Refs. — Vaccinium myrtillus L., Sp. PI. 349 (1753), type loc. European; Jepson, Man. 752 

 (1925). V. myrtillus var. micro phylhim Hook., Fl. Bor. Am. 2:33 (1834), type loc. "Alpine woods 

 near the Height of Land and Columbia Portage," 

 n. Rocky Mts., Drummond. V. scoparium Leiberg, 

 Mazama 1:196 (1897). 



7. V. ovatum Pursh. California 

 Huckleberry. (Fig. 306.) Erect shrub 

 4 to 8 feet high; leaves coriaceous, shining 

 above, the blades oblong-ovate, serrate, I/2 

 to 1V4 inches long, short-petioled; racemes 

 short and dense, 4 to 7 ( or 9 ) -flowered, axil- 

 lary and shorter than the leaves, often form- 

 ing compact clusters; pedicels 2 to 3 lines 

 long; corolla pink, broadly bell-shaped, 3 to 

 31/^ lines long; berry black, without bloom, 

 globose-ovoid, 3 to 4 lines long. 



Hill slopes and canon valleys, 10 to 2500 

 feet : San Diego Co. (rare) ; along the coast 

 from Santa Barbara Co. to Del Norte Co., 

 especially in the Redwood belt. North to 

 British Columbia. Feb.-May. 



Field note. — 

 As a Redwood asso- 

 ciate, Vaccinium 

 ovatum is extremely 

 abundant as 

 ground cover in the 

 forest and is often 

 a dominant. In 

 Mendocino County 



it may take on an arborescent form and develop a trunk 5 to 7 

 inches in diameter. In logged Redwood lands it is commonly the 

 first woody species to repopulate the area, but it is likely later to 

 be overtopped by Ceanothus thyrsiflorus. If the crown of the 

 shrub is cut off or fire-killed, Vaccinium ovatum usually stump- 

 sprouts freely. 



Logs. — Bottle Peak near Escondido, C. V. Meyer; upper Mis- 

 sion Caiion, Santa Barbara, TucTcer 106; Santa Cruz Isl. (Zoe 

 1:141) ; Purisima Hills, Lompoe ; Cerro Alto Mt. near San Luis 

 Obispo, Condit 4' Waters; Monterey, Jepson; San Vicente Creek, 

 Santa Cruz Co., Jepson; Kings Mt., San Mateo Co., Elmer 4561; 

 Redwood Peak, Oakland Hills, H. JI. Eaworth; Olema, Marin 

 Co.,Jepson 14,687 ; Gualala, Mendocino Co., Bobt. Brandt ; Cahto, 

 Mendocino Co., Jepson 14,088; Bull Creek, near Dyerville, Jep- 

 son; Eureka, Tracy 2017 ; Trinidad, Humboldt Co., Geo. Parrish; 

 Crescent City, ShocTclcy ; Quartz Creek, Del Norte Co., Jepson. 



Var. saporosum Jepson. Berry glaucous. — Montere}- ; Santa 

 Cruz Co.; Mendocino Co. to Del Norte Co. (Patrick Creek, C. B. 

 Wolf 1773). The berry ripens earlier than in the species and 

 has a more agreeable flavor. In the Big Basin, Santa Cruz Mts., 

 H. A. Button observes that the leaves are a darker green th.an in 

 the species, that the berry is pear-shaped while it is globose in tlic 

 species. On the Mendocino coast, says Charlotte M. Hoak, the 

 shrubs with blue or glaucous berries are favored by school-children who call them blue-berries; 

 the shrubs with non-glaucous black or purple berries are called huckleberries. The berries of the 

 former are thin-skinned, mellow and sweet; the berries of the latter are tougher or thicker-skinned 



Fig. 305. Vaccinium myrtillus L. 

 a. fl. branchlet, X % ; &, long. sect, of fi., 

 X 3; e, stamen, X 5; d, fr., X 1. 



Fig. 306. Vaccinium ova- 

 tum Pursh. Fruiting branch- 

 let, X %. 



