B154 

 (3 leaves) 



BLUEBERRIES AND WHORTLEBERRIES 



Vacci'nium spp. 



Vaccinium, the classical Latin name for these or related plants, is 

 a large, widely distributed group of shrubs or occasionally small 

 trees, most of which occur in the Old World. The genus belongs to 

 the blueberry family (Vacciniaceae), sometimes considered a sub- 

 family or tribe of the heath family (Ericaceae). As here inter- 

 preted, Vacciniutn includes the subgenera or sections, true blueberries 

 (Cyanocoo'cus or Ewvacci'mum} and cowberries (Vi'tis-idae'a), 

 which are designated as separate genera by some authors, but excludes 

 the genera (subgenera or sections of some authors), tree-huckleber- 

 ries, or farkleberries (Batoden'dron), dingleberries, or mountain- 

 cranberries (Hvgeria. syn. Oscycoccoi'des], cranberries (Oxy- 

 coc'cus), and deerberries, or "gooseberries" (Pofyco' dium) of the 

 South. 



Species of Vaccinium are known throughout the West as huckle- 

 berries, a name more accurately applied to the genus Gaylussacia of 

 the Eastern States, whose fruits are the huckleberries of commerce. 

 Gaylussacicb has firm, often pubescent or resinous leaves, and black 

 berries which are more acid and seedy than those of blueberries. 

 This application of a common plant name from one locality to dif- 

 ferent plants of similar appearance in another region well illustrates 

 the difficulty of selecting and standardizing common names. The 

 name blueberry is well established for the species of Vaccinium 

 having bright, waxy-blue (glaucous) berries and particularly for 

 those species cultivated commercially for their fruit. However, 

 objections to its use for the entire genus are largely based upon the 

 fact that some species of Vaccinium have black or red fruits. Con- 

 sequently, whortleberry, a largely British name for these plants, and 

 Earticularly applied to the black-berried Old World F. myrtillus (the 

 otanical type of the genus Vaccinium)) has been proposed to cover 

 the non-blue-fruited species, and was adopted by the authors of 

 Standardized Plant Names, 1 as well as by the Forest Service in a 

 recent range plant publication. 2 Popularization of the common 

 name blueberries for the blue-fruited species of Vaceiniwn, and of 

 huckleberries for the genus G-aylitssacia, is recommended as being 

 in accordance with established practice for the cultivated species 

 and to eliminate the confusion in this country concerning the com- 

 mon names of these two closely related genera. 



Approximately 18 species of blueberries and whortleberries occur 

 in the Western States, and a few others are native to the region from 

 Alaska to British Columbia. They all inhabit acid soils and are 

 commonly associated with coniferous forests, often forming a dense, 

 almost pure understory in stands of lodgepole pine and Engelmann 



1 American Joint Committee on Horticultural Nomenclature. STANDARDIZED PLANT 

 NAMES . . . Prepared by F. L. Olmsted, F. V. Coville, and H. P. Kelsey. 546 pp., Salem, 

 Mass. 1923. 



2 Dayton, W. A. IMPORTANT WESTERN BEOWSE PLANTS. U. S. Dept. Agr. Misc. FUD. 

 101, 214 pp., illus. 1931. 



