THE' FLORA OF SITKA, ALASK \ 441 



in the dense shade near the base of Ihe mountains. It is of a 

 clear, bright, almost transparent red and of aboul the same 

 size as the Early blueberry, although occasionally bushes bear 

 much large fruits and the writer noted one the pasl season 

 where the berries averaged better than one-half inch in diam- 

 eter. It is of good quality and much used. It ripens in Augusl 

 and September. 



Vaccinium chamissonis (Plate XXIX, is another Bighbush 

 blueberry that is abundant. It bears the largesl fruit of any 

 member of the genus, bu1 the quality is nut equal to thai of 

 the other species and many of the fruits are wormy; hence, 

 it is not used to any great extent. The Fruit is round to pyri- 

 form. purplish black, with scarcely any to very dense bloom. 

 Berries five-eighths of an inch in diameter are sometimes l'"nnd. 

 The forms included under this head may form mere than one 

 species. The pyriform, black, bloomless fruit is quite distinct 

 from the round to slightly depressed fruit with heavy bloom, 

 but intermediate forms occur. 



Vaccinium uliginosum is a low growing species common on 

 the Muskeg'. The blue berries are somewhat oblong in shape 



and ripen late. It is often gathered for use. 



Vaccinium caespitoswm (Plate XXX), is another low -row- 

 ing form and extends from sea level to above timber line. Tie 

 fruit is somewhat smaller than that of the Bighbush blueberries, 

 but it excels them all in quality. While fairly common it is 

 not abundant enough to he gathered economically. 



Vaccinimi vitis-idaea (Plate XXXI. figure 1 . He' .Mountain 

 cranberry, is our most valuable species of the -roup, h Is dark 

 red and is borne in small clusters at the end of the branches. It 

 is an evergreen species with creeping stem and semi-ered 

 branches. While the fruit is rather small it occurs in abundance 

 and is used to a greater extenl than any other native fruit. 

 It is considered superior in quality to the cranberry of the 

 states (Vaccinium macrocarpon) and was formerly shipped 

 from Sitka in considerable quantities, but, of late years the 

 native women have found other lines of work more profitable 

 and the export of these berries has dwindled to a very small 

 amount. It is often kept for months in a fresh state in cold 

 water. 



