372 PRIMULACEAE (PRIMROSE FAMILY) 



89. VACCINIACEAE Lindl. HUCKLEBERRY FAMILY 



Shrubs with alternate leaves, and small white, pink, or red flowers in racemes 

 or clusters, or solitary in the axils. Calyx-tube globose, hemispheric, or tur- 

 binate, not angled, adnate to the ovary, the limb 4-5-toothed or 4-5-lobed, 

 persistent. Corolla sympetalous, urn-shaped or cylindric, rarely subglobose, 

 its limb 4-5-toothed or 4-5-lobed. Stamens twice as many as the lobes of 

 the corolla; anthers upwardly prolonged into tubes, opening by terminal 

 pores or chinks. Ovary 4-5-celled, or 8-10-celled by false partitions; ovules 

 several or numerous; stigma small. Fruit a many-seeded berry. 



VACCINIUM L. BLUEBERRIES 

 Characters of the family. 



Flowers in clusters of 2-4; corolla 4-lobed . . . . . 1. V. occidentals. 

 Flowers solitary; corolla 5-lobed. 

 Plants low, rarely 3 dm. high. 

 Branches sharply angled. 



Berries red; leaves usually less than 1 cm. long . . . 2. V. scoparium. 



Berries blue-black; leaves more than 1 cm. long . . . 3. V. oreophilum. 



Branches terete; berries blue with bloom . . . . 4. V. caespitosum. 



Plants taller, 3-12 dm. high; berries black . . . . . 5. V. membranaceum. 



1. Vaccinium occidentale Gray, Bot. Cal. 1: 451.. 1876. Glabrous shrub, 

 3-8 dm. high: leaves rather thin, glaucescent, obscurely veiny, oval to 

 obovate-oblong or oblanceolate, obtuse or acutish, 12-20 mm. long: flowers 

 2-4, or rarely solitary: corolla oblong-ovate: berries small, 5-6 mm. in diam- 

 eter. Extending to Wyoming from California and Washington. 



2. Vaccinium scoparium Leiberg, Mazama 1: 196. 1897. Low, branches 

 sharply angled and green: leaves small, glabrous, ovate or oval, thin, shining, 

 serrate, conspicuously reticulated-veiny, and with a prominent narrow mid- 

 rib (7-15 mm. long): limb of calyx almost entire: corolla globular-ovate: berries 

 black, nodding. V. Myrtillus microphyllum. (V. erythrococcum Rydb. Mem. 

 N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1: 301. 1900.) Common throughout our range, and far 

 northwestward. 



3. Vaccinium oreophilum Rydb. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 33: 148. 1906. 

 Slender-branched, 2-6 dm. high, glabrous throughout; branchlets more or less 

 angled: leaves ovate or oval, 1-3 cm. long, minutely serrate, reticulate- veiny, 

 with prominent narrow midrib : limb of calyx nearly obsolete: corolla globular: 

 berry blue-black or black. V. Myrtillus. Colorado to Montana and westward. 



4. Vaccinium caespitosum Michx. Fl. 1: 234. 1803. Nearly glabrous 

 throughout: leaves 12-25 mm. long, green and shining both sides, nearly 

 sessile, serrulate: flowers longer than their pedicels: corolla obovoid or obovoid- 

 oblong, pink or white, rarely 4-toothed: stamens rarely 8: berry blue with a 

 bloom, sweet, about 6 mm. in diameter. Across the continent northward; 

 extending south in the mountains to Colorado. 



5. Vaccinium membranaceum Dougl. Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 32. 1834. 

 Nearly or quite glabrous, 3-12 dm. high, the branchlets more or less angled: 

 leaves thin, 1-3 cm. long, oblong or ovate, obtuse or acute, paler beneath, 

 reticulate, finely serrate: calyx-teeth nearly .obsolete: corolla subglobose, 

 yellowish-green or purplish: berry purplish-black or black, 6-7 mm. in diam- 

 eter, rather acid. [V. globulare Rydb. Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1: 300. 1900; 

 V. macrophyllum (Hook.) Piper, Contrib..Nat. Herb. 11: 443. 1906.] North- 

 ern Wyoming and Montana and far westward. 



90. PRIMULACEAE Vent. PRIMROSE FAMILY 



Herbs with simple leaves and symmetrical flowers. Calyx usually 5-parted, 

 free, or rarely adnate to the base of the ovary, imbricated in the bud, usually 



