HORTICULTURAL STATUS OF THE GENUS VACCINIUM. 115 



Though erythrocarpon, of the southern Alleghanies, is not 

 found in the old world, a very, closely allied species, Japonicum, 

 is found in central Japan and China — these two species forming 

 a unique type intermediate between the blueberries and the cran- 

 berries. In Japan Vaccinium is numerous in species, but, with 

 the exception of the red fruited V . Japonicum and the black 

 fruited V . ciliatum, they are not very abundant and are mostly 

 confined to alpine summits where the species are found which 

 in the extreme north encircle the earth ; and blueberries nowhere 

 cover the forest floor with the dense undergrowth which is 

 common in our northern woods. 1 



Of the purely American species, the most important ones are : 

 in the East, ccespitosnm, Canadense, corymbosum, Pennsyl- 

 vanicum and vacillans, together with the cranberries, macro car- 

 pon, Oxycoccus and Vitis-Idcea; in the South, Myrsinites and 

 virgatum; in the Northwest, myrtilloides and ovalifolium. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 



The vacciniums have been strangely overlooked alike by horti- 

 culturists and by historians. Pliny, Vergil and Theophrastus 

 make brief reference to them; Dodoens, 2 in 1578, and Gerarde 3 

 and Parkinson in the early part of the seventeenth century give 

 brief discussions of several forms. Parkinson says : 4 "There 

 are divers sorts of these low shrubs which must all go under 

 the name of Whorts or Whortleberries, although there is much 

 difference between them." He then describes nine different 

 sorts, the first two being referred to as "Bilberries." 



In America the fruit must have been used extensively by the 

 Indians in colonial times, though there are few records 01 

 such use. Parkinson refers to Champlain who in 161 5 found 

 the. Indians near Lake Huron gathering blueberries for their 

 winter store. Kalm speaks of the Indians drying the fruit by 

 the sunshine or by the fireside for winter use. Roger Williams 

 mentions: "Attitaash (Whortleberries) of which there are 

 divers sorts; sweet like currants. . . . Sautaash are these currants 



T Sargent, Gard. & For. 6:254. 



2 Lyte's Dodoens, 670. (1578) 



3 Herballe, ed. 2, 1418. (1633) 

 "Theatrum Botanicum, 1459. (1640) 



