spruce. These plants are also common shrubs in ponderosa pine, 

 and in the heavy Douglas fir and mixed coniferous forests of Idaho 

 and the Northwest. However, many species apparently succeed in 

 the open, some appearing on northerly, exposed slopes at the lower 

 elevations, with others growing in considerable abundance in alpine 

 meadows and also frequently forming dense stands in burns. 



The blueberries and their congeners vary, as browse for sheep, 

 from practically worthless to poor or fair; occasionally they rate as 

 fairly good or, rarely, good. In the main, they are of negligible value 

 for cattle. In general, deer, caribou, and elk crop these plants rather 

 extensively ; caribou 3 and elk, in particular, utilize them intensively 

 on closely grazed ranges, and even browse the stems and twigs on 

 winter ranges. The taller species, as a rule, are more palatable than 

 those of low, sprawling growth ; the leaves of the former usually are 

 more delicate and succulent. The edible fruits are relished by birds, 

 rodents, and bears. In localities where the larger-fruited species 

 are abundant, the berries are often gathered commercially for human 

 consumption, furnishing seasonal employment to thousands of 

 people. 4 



The species of Vacciniwn have woody stems, often with somewhat 

 four-angled, greenish branchlets; alternate, deciduous, or evergreen, 

 mostly thin, either entire or finely toothed leaves; and usually droop- 

 ing, rose-colored, white, or greenish, somewhat bell-like flowers, either 

 solitary or in small clusters. The calyx (outer united flower parts) 

 is small and four- or five-lobed ; the corolla is somewhat urn-shaped 

 or bell-shaped, and four- or five-toothed. The pollen sacs (anthers) 

 of the 8 or 10 stamens are awnless, two-awned on the back, or pro- 

 longed into tubes opening by pores. The fruit, a four- to five-celled 

 (or 8- to 10-celled by false partitions) , blue or black (sometimes red) , 

 sweet, edible berry, either with or without bloom (glaucous), is char- 

 acteristically flattened at one end and crowned by the persistent calyx 

 teeth. 



Big whortleberry (F. membrana! ceum, syn. F. macrophyl'lum), 

 one of the more palatable species, ranks among the important shrubs 

 of Idaho, eastern Washington, and eastern Oregon; it is fully dis- 

 cussed elsewhere in this handbook. Box blueberry (F. ova' turn, syn. 

 Vitis-idae' 'a ova' to), sometimes called "California huckleberry", a 

 tall (4 to 8 feet high), stout species appearing in the humid, coastal 

 forests from California to Vancouver Island, is often the dominant 

 plant in the understory of redwood and Douglas-fir forests. In 

 some places, sheep crop this species fairly well during the fall, winter, 

 and early spring. The oblong-egg-shaped, leathery, evergreen 

 leaves, with toothed margins, are shiny above and from ^ to iy 

 inches long. The flowers are rose color or pink and broadly bell- 

 shaped ; the fruits are typically black and lacking in bloom but in 

 one variety are bright blue. Throughout the fog belt in California, 

 this species sometimes forms dense thickets on open ridges, where it 

 fruits abundantly. The Calpella and other Indians often traveled 



3 Murie O J ALASKA-YUKON CARIBOU. North Amer. Fauna 54, 93 pp., illus. 1935. 

 * Dayton W A MINOR BY PRODUCTS OF THE FOREST. A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN 

 FORESTRY. ' 73d Cong., 1st sess., S. Doc. 12, v. 1, pp. 555-562. 1933. 



