ERICACEAE. — VACCINIUM 557 



two varieties, one with bright red and more juicy fruit . , . The two kinds are 

 exactly alike in foliage." 



Macoun, Cat. Canad. PI. I. 294 (1883) : " Both Hooker and Gray state that 

 the berries of this species are black, on the contrary, those on specimens obtained 

 on Anticosti and the Rocky Mountains are bright red." 



Stewardson Brown, Alp. Fl. Canad. Rocky Mts. 215 (1907) : " berry bright 

 scarlet." 



The plant of eastern North America has bluish black fruit like that of Europe. 

 There seems to be also a difference in foliage : the leaves of the red-fruited variety, 

 both in the Asiatic and American specimens, are thinner and larger, while those 

 of the typical form are smaller and of firmer texture. 



VACCINIUM L. 

 Subgen. EPIGYNIUM Drude. 



Vaccinium Donianum Wight, Icon. t. 1191 (1850). — Clarke in 

 Hooker f., Fl. Brit. Ind. III. 453 (1882). 



Vaccinium affine Wight, Icon. IV. t. 1190 (1850). 



Epigynium affine Klotzsch in Linnaea, XXIV. 50 (1851). 



Epigynium Donianum Klotzsch (1. c.) 51. 



Vaccinium mandarinorum Diels in Bot. Jahrb. XXIX. 516 (1900). 



Kiangsi : Ruling, side of streams and in thickets, alt. 1300 m., July 

 1907 (Nos. 1700, 1701, 1704; shrubs 1-2 m. tall). Western Hupeh: 

 Patung Hsien, woods, alt. 1300-1600 m., August 1907 (No. 2705; 

 bush 2.5-4 m. tall, flowers white) ; Changyang Hsien, woods, alt. 1300 

 m., July 1907 (No. 2706; bush 1.5-2 m. tall, flowers white); Patung 

 Hsien, woodlands, alt. 1300-1600 m., June 1907 (No. 2710; bush 2-3 

 m. tall, flowers white); same loeahty, June 1900 (Veitch Exped. No. 

 1010); without locality, A. Henry (Nos. 3918, 4526, 6129, 7660 in 

 part, and 5807'', type of V. mandarinorum Diels). Western 

 Szech'uan: Mt. Omei, May 1904 (Veitch Exped. No. 5134). 

 Yunnan: Szemao, mountains, A. Henry (Nos. 11626, 11917, 12745). 



This is an exceedingly variable plant, common in woodlands and thickets. The 

 leaves vary in size and shape, and the shoots and racemes from glabrous to pu- 

 bescent; the pedicels vary in length from 2-10 mm. and are glabrous or pubescent; 

 in No. 1010 the calyx is also sparsely pubescent. With the large scries of specimens 

 before us we cannot distinguish between the common Chinese and Indian forms. 

 Diels' type of V. mandarinorum {Henry No. 5807*') seems to us identical with 

 Wight's figure, which constitutes the type of V. Donianum; probably comparisons 

 were made between some of the Hookerian specimens and not with the type 

 figures. 



Clarke (Hooker f. Fl. Brit. Ind. III. 453) cites Agapetes Sprengelii G. Don. 

 {Gen. Syst. III. 862 [1834]) as a s^-nonym of V. Donianum Wight, and the same view 

 is taken in the Index Kewensiii. In this case "Sprengelii" would be the oldest 



