VACCINIUM 103 



2 mm. long, furnished with two bractlets resembling the bracts, sepals 4, 

 their free tips triangular, acute, glandular along the margin, about 1 mm. 

 long, corolla pink, bell-shaped, about 5 mm. long, composed of 4 petals 

 united about half their length, stamens 8, included, filaments hairy, short, 

 anthers without awns, their sacs elongated upward into tubes with 

 terminal pores, style curved, slightly exserted; berry dark red, 4-celled, 

 acid and scarcely edible unless cooked: vitis-idaea, probably "vine 

 of the wood," in reference to its habitat. 



Dry granitic rocks and sphagnum swamps. Arctic regions of America 

 and Asia, south to Massachusetts, Lake Superior and British Columbia. 

 The large typical form occurs in northern Europe. In Minnesota locally 

 abundant in the northeastern part of the state. Flowers in late June, 

 berries ripe in the autumn. 



The berries "Preiselbeere n," "T y 1 1 e b a e r," are much used 

 for cooking in parts of northern Europe. There seems to be no reason why 

 they should not be similarly employed here. 



Vaccinium Oxycoccus Linne 1753 Small Cranberry 

 Oxycoccus palustris Persoon 1805 

 Oxycoccus Oxycoccus MacMillan 1892 



Creeping prostrate shrub, stems very slender, about .5 mm. in diameter; 

 leaves leathery, evergreen, ovate lanceolate, upper side dark green, glossy, 

 under side nearly white, margin with a few small teeth, strongly revolute, 

 tip wedge-shaped, acute, base truncate or slightly heart-shaped, 4-12 mm. 

 long, 2.5-3.5 mm. wide, petioles slender, about 1.5 mm. long; flowers in 

 small terminal racemes of 1-5, the axis of the raceme usually very short 

 (2-5 mm.), but occasionally prolonged upwards into a leafy shoot and 

 then the flower-bearing part often 1 cm. long, bracts about 1.5 mm. long, 

 broadly elliptical, obtuse, pedicels thread-like, red, 2-4 cm. long, bearing 

 2 minute reddish bractlets ; sepals 4, their free tips broadly triangular, 

 obtuse, petals 4, lanceolate, 5-8 mm. long, 'separate almost to the base, 

 spreading or reflexed, pink, stamens 8, exserted, filaments hairy, anthers 

 without awns, the anther-sacs prolonged upward into long tubes with 

 terminal pores, style straight, slightly longer than the stamens; fruit red, 

 less than 1 cm. in diameter, sour and nearly inedible when raw, pleasant 

 when cooked : oxycoccus, Gr. sour berry. 



Sphagum bogs, tundra and wet sour soil, generally; Arctic regions, 

 southward to North Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota, British Columbia. 

 Japan and central Europe. In Minnesota it occurs in sphagnum bogs of 



