VACCINIACEAE 229 



GAYLUSSACIA BACCATA (Wangenheim) K. Koch 

 Black Huckleberry Highbush Huckleberry 



The Black Huckleberry, fig. 60, is an erect or ascending 

 shrub up to 4 feet tall but commonly li/ to 21/^ feet high, 

 with branchlets that are more or less pubescent toward the 

 end. The oval, oblong or oblanceolate leaves are 1 to 3 inches 

 long by 14 to 1 14 inches wide, acute, obtuse, or rounded at 

 the apex, and narrowed at the base. The leaf margin is entire 

 and ciliate, and the surface is green on both sides, but more 

 or less pubescent and covered with scales beneath, the scales 

 persisting until maturity of the leaves. The petioles are very 

 short and pubescent. 



The inflorescence consists of short racemes bearing up to 

 7 flowers, which arise from old axils on the former year's 

 branchlets or sometimes on the present year's growth. The 

 reddish or pink flowers bloom from early in May until early 

 in June. The calyx, which is soon deciduous, is covered with 

 resinous scales. The black or bluish fruit ripens from the last 

 of July until September as a globose, sweet-fleshed drupe with 

 at most only a slight bloom and contains 10 almond-shaped, 

 small seeds. 



Distribution. — The Black Huckleberry ranges, in acid, 

 sandy soils, from Newfoundland to Manitoba and south to 

 Georgia, Tennessee and ^Minnesota. In Illinois, it ranges 

 through much of the northern third of the state and, without 

 intervening occurrences, in Alexander County in the south. 

 The region of greatest abundance is in the northeast corner 

 of the state, but there are also records from the vicinity of 

 La Salle, Castle Rock, Kankakee, Starved Rock and Peru. 



VACCINIUM Linnaeus 



Blueberry Bilberry Whortleberry 



The blueberries are low shrubs with alternate, thin, de- 

 ciduous leaves and \yith flowers borne singly, in racemes or 

 in fascicles. The calyx lobes are 4 or 5, and the white, pink 

 or purplish corolla is made up of 4 or 5 more or less united 

 petals. The stamens are 8 or 10, and the fruit is a sweet 

 and edible, blue-black or red berry sometimes covered with 

 bloom. 



