HUCKLEBERRIES AND BLUEBERRIES. 17 



MEETING FOR DISCUSSION. 



Huckleberries and Blueberries — Gatlussacia and 



Vaccinium sp. 



By E. Lewis Sturtevant, M. D., South Framingham, Mass. 



In New England the only vernacular names that I have heard 

 applied to this class of fruits have been Huckleberries for Gaylus- 

 sacia resinosa, T. and G. ; Blueberries for Vaccinium Pennsylvani- 

 cum, Lam., V. Canadense, Kalm, and V. vacillans, Solander, which 

 are not distinguished apart when collected for market pur- 

 poses, and Dangleberries for the fruit of Gaylussacia frondosa, 

 T. and G. The fruit of Gaylussacia dumosa, T. and G., occasion- 

 ally appears in the New Bedford markets under the name of the 

 Hairy Huckleberry ; and the unexcelled fruit of Vaccinium corym- 

 bosum, L., under the name of Bush Blueberries. Gray in his 

 Synoptical Flora applies in a generic sense the word Huckleberry 

 to the Gaylussacias ; and Blueberry, Bilberry, or sometimes Huc- 

 kleberry and Cranberry to the Vacciniuins. Authors have not, 

 however, made a very clear discrimination in the vernacular no- 

 menclature, and there is much confusion. I have never yet heard 

 the words "Whortleberry and Bilberry used by uneducated country 

 people, and j^et these words are given prominence in American 

 Cyclopedias and American authors. The popular method, in New 

 England at least, seems to be to apply the name of Huckleberries 

 to those kinds in which the seeds are prominent in the chewing, 

 and Blueberries to those other kinds in which the seeds are not 

 noticeable, regardless of the real color. 



The word Whortleberrj', among American botanists, was used 

 by Bigelow, 1824 and 1840; Eaton, 1840; Provancher, 1862; 

 Emerson, 1875, and Gray, 1886, as also by Roger Williams in 

 colonial times. The same authors use the word Bilberry, as also 

 Josselyn in 1663, who says " two kinds ; — black and sky-colored, 

 which is more frequent;" Elliott in 1821, and Torrey in 1843. 

 The most modern local New England Floras use only the words 

 Huckleberry and Blueberry with the necessary additions as Bush, 

 Swamp, or Low, etc.^ 



1 Under date of December 7, 1889, Mr. W. R. Gerard, of New York, an authority on 

 plant names, writes me : — 



" Huckleberry is merely a corruption by the American colonists of Hurtleberry. 

 The first example of the word that I have met with is in ' The Historical Description 



2 



