V 



VACCINIUM (ancient Latin name of the blueberry). 

 Ericaceae. BLUEBERRIES, BILBERRIES, DEERBERRIES, 

 and CRANBERRIES. Erect or creeping shrubs, often 

 with green speckled twigs, well known in this country 

 as the source of excellent wild berries; sometimes 

 planted for ornament. 



Leaves alternate, evergreen or deciduous, coriaceous 

 or herbaceous: fls. solitary, axillary or terminal or in 

 racemes; sepals 4-^5 or obsolete; corolla gamopetalous, 

 urceolate, cylindrical, campanulate, or rotate, 4-5- 

 toothed or -parted, white 

 or pink; stamens 8-10; 

 anthers dehiscing by pores 

 at the tips of long slender 

 terminal tubes, epigynous: 

 carpels 4-5; ovary inferior, 

 4-5-celled, or 8-10-celled 

 by intrusion of the midrib 

 of each carpel: fr. a many- 

 seeded berry capped by 

 the persistent calyx. The 

 genus consists of about 130 

 species of wide geographic 

 distribution, extending from 

 the Arctic Circle to the 

 higher mountains of the 

 tropics. They are most com- 

 mon in North America 

 and the Himalayas. The 

 genus is almost without rep- 

 resentation in the southern 

 hemisphere. 



The well-known confu- 

 sion in the popular names 

 applied to Vaccinium is 

 stated by Munson as fol- 

 lows: "The terms 'bilberry' 

 and 'whortleberry' usually 

 mentioned as 'common 

 names' by American writers 

 are seldom or never heard 

 among the common people 

 in this country; while 

 'huckleberry' is often used 



3891. Vaccinium stamineum. (XI) 



late autumn, rivaling the sumach in brilliancy, are 

 unsurpassed. As an ornamental plant the species 

 deserves a place in every garden. V. pennsylvanicum 

 also brightens waste places for a short tune, but drops 

 its foliage too early to be worthy of planting as an 

 undershrub. The same is true of V. canadense, which is 

 in many respects similar. V. stamineum, though early 

 deciduous, is attractive when in bloom and through- 

 out the summer by reason of its graceful habit. It 

 is particularly adapted for sterile sandy or gravelly 

 situations, and it is one of 

 the very few ornamental 

 shrubs specially suited for 

 densely shaded situations. 

 It has the peculiarity of 

 never forming a true flower- 

 bud, the blossom being 

 open from the first. V. 

 arboreum forms an irregular 

 shrub too diffuse and strag- 

 gling to be of value except 

 when planted in masses at 

 the South. V. hirsutum is 

 as beautiful in its autumn 

 coloring as is V. corym- 

 bosum and, like that species, 

 retains its foliage late in 

 the season. V. Vitis-Idaea 

 and V. uliginosum, with 

 their shining box-like foli- 

 age, can be used very ef- 

 fectively as edging for the 

 shrubbery border. (W. M. 

 Munson.) 



For the most part, vac- 

 ciniums are plants of peaty 

 or sandy acid soil, and will 

 not thrive in soils of a richer 

 nature. Many species are 

 very sensitive to the pres- 

 ence of lime, and they re- 

 quire special attention as to 

 soil. See Blueberry. 



indiscriminately for plants of this genus and for the 

 Gaylussacias. In the central states the term 'huckle- 

 berry' is usually applied to V. corymbosum, while 'blue- 

 berry' is given to the low-growing species, like V. 

 canadensis and V. pennsylvanicum. In New England, 

 'huckleberry' is reserved for species of Gaylussacia, 

 while 'blueberry' is applied to the lower-growing spe- 

 cies as above, and 'high-bush blueberry' to V. corym- 

 bosum. The red-berried species are, in general, referred 

 to as 'cranberries.' " 



Among the plants that lend tone to the landscape 

 in October and November by reason of their bright 

 foliage, many of the species of Vaccinium may be 

 included the brilliant red, crimson, and orange colors 

 often persisting much longer than the bright-hued 

 leaves of a large number of other plants. Of the orna- 

 mental species none is more strikingly beautiful late in 

 the autumn than the common high-bush blueberry, V. 

 corymbosum. When well grown it is a stout, thick, 

 spreading bush 8 to 10 feet high. The plant is beautiful 

 when in flower; the fruit is attractive and of the best 

 quality, and the bright scarlet and crimson effects in 



aJbiflorum, 7. 

 amcenum, 7. 

 angustifolium, 10. 

 arboreum, 1. 

 atrococcum, 8. 

 csespitosum, 14. 

 canadense, 9. 

 Constablxi, 7. 

 corymbosum, 7, 8. 

 crassifplium, 20. 

 erythrinum, 25. 

 erythrocarpum, 22. 



Quoted statements in the specific descriptions in the 

 following treatment are from the original article on this 

 genus by the late W. M. Munson in the "Cyclopedia of 

 American Horticulture;" that article also gives an inter- 

 esting account of the native production of the fruit. 



KEY TO THE SECTIONS (No. 25 doubtful). 

 A. Corolla campanulate to urceolate or cylindrical. 

 B. The corolla 5-lobed, open-cam panulate; anthers 



awned on the back. Section I. BATODENDBON 



BB. The corolla J^-B '-toothed, urceolate, cylindrical, 

 or campanulate-oblong. 



(3421) 



