448 ERICACEiE. Vaccinium. 



minating in two long slender tubes. Berry globose, oblong or ovoid, half an inch in diameter, 

 bright scarlet, of an agreeable acid taste, persistent during part of the winter. 



Sphagnous swamps ; not uncommon in many parts of the State. Fl. June. Fr. October - 

 November. The berries of this plant are too well known to require a particular description, 



10. GAYLUSSACIA. H. B. ^ K. nov. gen. ^ sp. 3. p. 275. t. 257 ; Cham. <^ Schlecht. 

 in LinnoRa, 1. p. 528 ; Endl. gen. 4329. false huckleberry. 



Jjvssicik, Spreng. Decachjeni, Tmr. <!f' Gr. in SUl. jour. i2. p. i2. note (I8il). Decamerium, iVM«. 1843. 



[ Named in honor of the distinguished French chemist Gay-Lussac, whose analytical researches have rendered essential 



aid to Botany.] 



Calyx adherent to the ovary, 5-toothed. Corolla cylindrical, ovoid, subglobose or campanulate, 

 5-cleft or 5-toothed. Stamens 10 : anthers unawned ; the cells produced at the apex into 

 a tubular appendage. Ovary 10-celled, with a single suspended ovule from the summit of 

 each cell. Fruit a berry-like globose drupe, 10-celled ; the nucules separating at maturity. 

 Endocarp crustaceous. Embryo slender, cylindrical. — Shrubs with the habit Vaccinium. 

 Leaves often sprinkled with resinous dots. Flowers in lateral racemes, bracteate ; the 

 bracts sometimes leafy. Corolla purplish scarlet, greenish or white. Fruit dark blu» or 

 black. 



The North American species of this genus have altogether the aspect of Vaccinium, but differ in the fruit, as 

 shown by Dr. Gray in the paper quoted above. It was proposed to constitute of them a separate genus under the 

 name of Decachjena (subsequently named Decamekicm by Mr. Nuttal!) ; but we now refer them to Ga ylussacia, 

 from which they do not differ essentially. In appearance and taste the fruit resembles that of the common Vacciniums, 

 but is not so much esteemed on account of the large crustaceous nucules. 



1. Gaylussacia hirtella, T. 5f Gr. (PL Ixvii.) Dwarf Swamp Huckleberry. 



Minutely pubescent ; leaves obovate-oblong and oblanceolate, mucronate, entire, shining 

 when old, with a short sparse glandular pubescence above, and sprinkled with resinous dots 

 underneath ; racemes with large foliaceous bracts , the pedicels 1 - 3-bracteolate ; corolla 

 campanulate ; fruit somewhat depressed-globose (black), pubescent ( Torr. <^ Gr. Jl. N. Am. 

 2. p. ined.). — Vaccinium hirtellum. Ait. Kew. (ed. 2.) 2. p. 357 ; Bigel. jl. Bost. p. 151 

 DC. prodr. 7. p. 566. V. dumosum, Andr. hot. rep. t. 112; Curt. hot. mag. t. 1106 

 Pursh, fl. 1. p. 285 ; Ell. sk. 1. p. 497 ; Wats, dendr. Brit. t. 32 ; Torr. fl. I. p. 414 

 Beck, hot. p. 223 ; DC. I c. Decamerium dumosum and hirtellum, Nutt. I. c. p. 260. 



A shrub about one foot high, with a long creeping root or rhizoma, somewhat naked below, 

 branching above ; the younger branches pubescent, and more or less glandular. Leaves 

 1 — 2 inches long, deciduous, rather thick when old, veiny. Racemes 2-3 inches long ; the 

 flowers few and distant ; bracts resembling the leaves, but smaller. Calyx glandular ; the 

 segments triangular, acute. Corolla large, white, 5-angled, smooth ; the segments short and 

 a little recurved. Stamens shorter than the corolla : filaments pubescent : anthers with long 

 tubular appendages. Style long and slender. Fruit black and shining when ripe, glandularly 

 pubescent, watery and rather insipid. 



Borders of ponds, and in wet sandy soils. Fl. June. Fr. August. 



