HUCKLEBERRY FAMILY 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, oblong or oval, one to three 

 inches long, wedge-shaped at base, entire, acute at apex. They 

 come out of the bud pale green or purplish, downy ; when full 

 grown are dark green, glabrous and shining above, paler and 

 downy beneath. Autumnal tint brilliant scarlet and orange. 

 Petiole short. 



. Flowers. — May, June. White or pale pink bells, borne in 

 short pendent or nodding racemes, which appear on almost leaf- 

 less branches of last year's wood. Bracts deciduous. 



Calyx. — Adnate to the ovary ; five-lobed. 



Corolla. — White or pinkish, cylindric or slightly constricted at 

 the throat, one-fourth to one-half an inch long, five-toothed. 



Stamens. — -Ten, anthers upwardly prolonged into tubes; cells 

 opening by terminal pores. 



Pistil. — Ovary inferior, ovules several, stigma small. 



Fruit. — Berry one-fourth to one-third an inch in diameter, 

 variable in color but typically blue with a bloom ; pleasantly 

 acid. July, August. 



This Blueberry is described by Gray in three vari- 

 eties, two of which Britton & Brown regard as suffi- 

 ciently distinct to be considered species. These are 

 Vaccinium corymbosum atrococcum, which differs from 

 the type, principally, in more down)' leaves, smaller 

 and rounder flowers and berries black without bloom ; 

 and Vaccinium corymbosum pallidum which differs in 

 having paler serrulate leaves, whitish or glaucous be- 

 neath. This form is common in the Alleghanies and 

 has a southern habitat. 



Mr. Jackson Dawson of the Arnold Arboretum 

 writes of this Blueberry as follows: 



" The High Bush Blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum, 

 forms handsome clumps of shrubbery from four to ten 

 feet high in deep swamps and moist woods, but sel- 

 dom reaches more than four feet in open pastures. 



330 



