STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 1101 



or obtuse, crenate-serrulate, setulose or glabrous beueatli ; flowers white or 

 pink, in short few-flowered racemes; calyx 5-lobate, the lobes ovate or lanceo- 

 late ; corolla urceolate, 5 to 7 mm. long ; stamens 10, the anthers appeudaged 

 above; fruit a 5-celled berry, 6 to 7 mm. in diameter. " Capulincillo " (Mexico, 

 Oaxaca) ; " arrayan " (Chiapas). 



P. pentlandii DC. a South American species, known in Colombia as " maiz 

 de perro," is said to have poisonous fruit. 



130, VACCINIACEAE. Blueberry Family. 



Shrubs or small trees, sometimes epiphytic and subscandent ; leaves alter- 

 nate, estipulate, persistent or deciduous, entire or serrate ; flowers usually 

 racemose, perfect ; calyx tube adnate to the ovary, the limb 4 or 5-lobate or 

 entire ; corolla gamopetalous, 4 or .5-dentate, the lobes imbricate ; stamens 

 twice as many as the corolla lobes, epigynous or adherent to the base of 

 the corolla, the anthers 2-celled, often awned ; style filiform, the stigma simple : 

 ovary inferior ; fruit baccate. 



Corolla campanulate, globose, or urceolate, small, less than 1 cm. long. 



Stamens included; corolla closed in bud 1, VACCINIUM. 



Stamens exserted; corolla open in bud 2. POLYCODIUM, 



Corolla tubular, 1 to 2.5 cm. long. 



Filaments equal in length 3. MACLEANIA. 



Filaments unequal 4. CAVENDISHIA. 



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



Shrubs ; leaves short-petiolate, persistent or deciduous, entire or serrate ; 

 flowers white or pink, solitary or in terminal or axillary racemes ; calyx limb 

 truncate or 5-dentate ; corolla campanulate or xirceolate, 4 or 5-dentate ; stamens 

 8 or 10, the anthers often awned, opening by terminal pores ; berry 5 or 10- 

 celled. 



The species occurring in the United States are known as blueberries or 

 whortleberries, and sometimes erroneously as huckleberries.^ All have edible 

 fruit, although in some species the fruit is so small as to be worthless. Some 

 of the blueberries afford one of the finest of all the native North American 

 fruits. In recent years they have been greatly improved by cultivation. 



Filaments glabrous; leaves deciduous 1. V. geminiflorum. 



Filaments pubescent ; leaves persistent. 



Flowers 4-parted 2. V. consang'uineum. 



Flowers 5-parted. 

 Anthers awned. 



Racemes leafy; corolla about 5 mm. long 3. V. stenophyllum. 



Racemes naked ; corolla about 2..5 mm. long 4. V. leucanthum. 



Anthers not awned. 



Corolla urceolate 5. V. cordatum. 



Corolla campanulate 6. V. confertum. 



1. Vaccinium geminiflorum H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 3: 267. pi. 252. 1819. 

 High mountains, Jalisco to Veracruz and Oaxaca ; type collected between 

 Omitian and Moran, Hidalgo. 



^ This name should be restricted to species of the genus Gaphissacia. 

 79688—24 17 



