HIGH BLUEBERRY 



LOW BLUEBERRY 



323 



needs a description. It differs chiefly in the leaf, which 

 is downy beneath ; in the flowers, which appear before 

 the leaves expand, those of the last species appearing 

 when the leaves are half grown, and which have a shorter, 

 greener corolla with more red ; and in the fruits, which 

 are glossy black without bloom, smaller than the last 

 and of even better flavor. It has the same pomological 

 possibilities as the preceding, with which it hybridizes 

 freely. 



3. Vaccinium virgatum, Ait. High Blueberry. Swamp 

 Blueberry. This is the high or swamp blueberry of the 

 South, differing from V. corymbosum in but a few trivial 

 characters. Thus the flowers of this species are pinker 

 than those of the northern form ; are often borne on 

 virgate or naked branches instead of leafy ones ; and 

 appear before or with the leaves instead of when they are 

 half grown. The berries are usually blacker, nearly or 

 quite destitute of bloom, and not so well flavored. 



The species is found in swamp and pine- 

 barrens from New Jersey to Florida. In the 

 type species, the plants are from two to twelve 

 feet high, but there is a botanical variety in 

 the southwestern range of the species which 

 is much lower, the plants mostly less than two 



292. Low Blueberry. (X%) 



feet in height. In this southwestern variety, 

 the leaves are smaller, and the flowers are 

 whiter and borne in shorter and closer clusters 

 than those of the type. Presumably this 

 species has the same potentialities for domes- 

 tication as the northern high blueberry. 



4. Vaccinium pennsylvanicum, Lam. Fig. 292. Low 

 Blueberry. Sweet Blueberry. Early Blueberry. Plant 

 dwarf, y 2 -2 feet in height; stems and branchlets green 

 and warty, glabrous or pubescent northward. Leaves 

 oblong or lanceolate, serrulate with bristle-pointed teeth, 

 bright green, smooth and glossy on both sides, sometimes 

 hairy on the midrib beneath. Flowers borne on short 

 pedicels ; corolla cylindric-bell-shaped, short, greenish- 

 white. Fruit large, bluish-black, black, sometimes red, 

 or rarely dull white, with or without bloom ; sweet and 

 pleasant in flavor ; earliest to ripen. 



The low blueberry is found covering great 

 areas in dry heaths, pine barrens, and moun- 

 tain lands from Newfoundland to Saskatche- 

 wan, and southward to Virginia and Illinois. 

 The species is most variable, but only two 

 natural varieties are described: var. angusti- 

 folium, Gray, is a dwarf northern or high- 

 mountain form with narrower leaves; and var. 

 nigrum, Wood, called the low black blueberry, 

 has firmer leaves, blue-green, glaucous, with 



very black, bloomless berries. This variety is 

 often associated with the species, or may be 

 found by itself. 



This dwarf species furnishes most of the 

 blueberries found in the markets, but seems 

 not to yield to cultivation so readily as the 

 high blueberry. It is more of a wilding, pre- 

 ferring rocky heaths, pine woods, shady places, 

 and mountains, where often it thrives in soil 

 an inch or two in depth. The berries, which 

 ripen in July in central New York, a month 

 earlier than those of the high blueberry, are 

 the most pleasantly flavored of all the blue- 

 berries, having a delicate sugary taste. They 

 are, however, soft and easily bruised, and must 

 be handled with care for distant shipment, but 

 are well suited for canning and drying. Most 

 of the crop canned in New England and 

 Michigan is of this species; the industry of 

 canning them is now an extensive one. The 

 berries hang on the bushes until all are ripe, 

 so that pickers can harvest them with great 

 rapidity. The aborigines set the example to 

 early settlers of sun-drying and smoke-drying 

 this blueberry for winter use, and the practice 

 of drying in the sun still survives. This 

 species may sometime be domesticated, in its 

 many forms, for the very poorest soils or for 

 shady places. 



5. Vaccinium canndense, Kalm. Canadian Blueberry. 

 Sour-top. Velvet-leaf. Plant a low shrub, 1-2 feet high, 

 erect, much branched, with very pubescent branchlets. 

 Leaves oblong-lanceolate, entire, dark green, %-!% inches 

 long, downy on both sides. Flowers greenish white, some- 

 times tinged with red. Fruit blue, rarely black, with 

 heavy bloom, small or medium in size, late, rather acid. 



The Canadian blueberry is found on dry 

 plains, swamps, and woods from Labrador to 

 Manitoba, southward to Illinois, and in the 

 mountains to Virginia. A form with white 

 fruit is rarely found. This species is closely 

 allied to the low blueberry, but bears smaller, 

 later, and more acid fruits, and has broader 

 and more downy leaves. 



Great productiveness and lateness in ripen- 

 ing are the characters that commend this 

 species most highly. In its southern range, 

 the Canadian blueberry ripens from one to 

 three weeks earlier than the low blueberry, 

 but the difference grows less northward, until 

 at its northern limits the two species mature 

 at nearly the same time. The piquancy in 

 flavor is liked by some, but generally the 

 sweeter flavored berries are preferred. 



6. Vaccinium vacillans, Kalm. Late Low Blueberry. 

 Plant low, %-3 feet high, erect, glabrous, widely 

 branched, the branchlets being yellowish-green. Leaves 

 obovate or oval, 1-2 inches long, broad, entire or minutely 

 serrulate, very pale or dull glaucous above and beneath. 

 Flowers in dense clusters at the extremities of last year's 

 growth ; calyx usually reddish ; corolla short, greenish- 

 white or yellow, often tinged with red. Fruit large, 

 blue, rarely white, with heavy bloom, late, sweet, borne 

 abundantly. 



The late low blueberry is usually found in 

 sandy or rocky places in northeastern United 

 States from Maine to Michigan and Wiscon- 

 sin. It is one of the commonest dry-land 

 blueberries, being especially plentiful in the 

 north central states. 



