HUCKLEBERRY FAMILY 



LOW BLUEBERRY. BLUE HUCKLEBERRY 



Vaccinmm vacillans. 



A stiff shrub, six inches to four feet high, found in dry, sandy 

 soil. Ranges from New Hampshire to North Carohna and west 

 to Michigan. 



Stems. — Branchlets and smaller spray red or pink and con- 

 trasting in color with the yellowish green or pale gray of the twigs 

 and branches. Winter buds red. 



Leaves. — Obovate, oval or broadly oblong, one to two and 

 one-half inches long, narrowed or rounded at base, entire or 

 sparingly or minutely serrulate, acute or acuminate, with a small 

 bristle at apex. They come out of the bud revolute, dull green 

 tinged with red, which color they remain for some time ; when 

 full grown are dull light green, glabrous above, pale or glaucous 

 beneath. Autumnal tint scarlet and crimson. 



Flowers. — May, June. Pink or greenish white bells about 

 one-fourth of an inch long, borne in racemose clusters ; appear 

 before the leaves are half-grown. 



Calyx. — Tube adnate to the ovary, five-toothed. 



Corolla. — Pink or white, oblong-cylindric, somewhat con- 

 stricted at the throat. 



Stamefis. — Ten, filaments slightly hairy, anthers extending 

 into long tubes ; cells opening by terminal pores. 



Pistil. — Ovary inferior ; ovules several. 



Fruit. — Globular berry, blue with a bloom, sweet, delicious 

 flavor. Ripening somewhat later than Vaccitiium peiinsylvajii- 

 cum. July to September. A variety with white fruit is known. 



Mr. Jackson Dawson of the Arnold Arboretum de- 

 scribes this Blueberry as follows : 



*' The Low Blueberry, Vacciniiivi vacillans, is a shrub 

 from one to three feet high, with a yellowish green 

 stem and glaucous leaves, usually growing on high 

 rocky ground and at the edge of woods. It bears an 

 abundance of large sweet berries which are chiefly 



