ERICACEAE 



HEATH FAMILY 



LOW-BUSH BLUEBERRY 



Vaccinium pennsyl'vanicum Lam. 



This plant furnishes some of our market blueberries. It 

 grows only in the dry sandy or rocky areas of the north, such 

 as are about Lake Michigan, near Kankakee, at Starved Rock 

 and in Ogle county. It is also 

 known in the mountains of New 

 York and New England, and far 

 to the northeast. 



The Low-bush Blueberry is a 

 branching shrub 6-24 inches high, 

 with green, somewhat warty 

 branches that are without hairs. 

 The alternate leaves are green 

 and smooth on both sides, and 

 are very finely toothed. 



The small clusters of white or 

 occasionally pinkish flowers are 

 produced in May and June. The 

 flower parts are attached above 

 the ovary: the calyx with 5 short 

 lobes that persist on the fruit, 

 and the corolla oblong-bell shaped, 

 slightly narrowed near the top 

 and with 5 spreading or curved 

 teeth at the end. There are 10 

 stamens whose anthers are with- 

 out awns and whose pollen sacs 

 are prolonged to form tubes that 

 open by pores at the ends. The 

 single style is straight and the 

 stigma small. The fruits are 

 many-seeded berries, very sweet 

 and blue or nearly black and rarely white or reddish when ripe 

 in June or July. 



The Late Low Blueberry, Vaccinium vacillans Kalm, is also 

 found in Illinois. It is similar but the oval leaves are very pale be- 

 neath and are often entire. The fruits are smaller. The calyx is 

 usually reddish and the corolla greenish yellow tinged with red. 



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