HORTICULTURAL STATUS OF THE MAM'S VACCINIUM. I43 



A boreal or Canadian species of rather limited distribution in 

 the East, common in Maine north of latitude 44 50' ; not found 

 in Labrador north of latitude 54 . York, Maine, is the most 

 southern station known. It is generally regarded as a plant of 

 the highest alpine summits in New England, but it is not uncom- 

 mon in other localities throughout central and northern Maine. 

 It is abundant at Orono, and Fernald has found that "in the val- 

 leys of the Penobscot and its tributaries, the Piscataquis, the 

 Mattawamkeag, and the Wassataquoik, the plant is to be found 

 on almost any ledgy or gravelly riverbank." Most abundant in 

 the valley of the upper St. John. 



V. Pennsylvanicum, Lam. (Low Blueberry) 

 Lamarck, Encyc. 1 : 72, 1783. 



(Synonyms: V. myrtilloides, Michx., Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 223; V. 

 tenellum, Pursh, Fl. 1:288 and Bigel. Fl. Bost. 150, not Ait.; 

 V. angustifolium, Ait., Hort. Kew, ed. 2, 2:356; V. mv.lti- 

 Horium, Dunal in D. C. Prod. 7 : 572 ; V . salicinum, Aschers. 

 Flora, i860, 369, not Cham. ; V. multiilorum, Wats. Dendr. Brit. 

 t.125 ( ?) ; V . ramulosum and humile Willd. Enum. Suppl. 

 20 (.?).) 



A dwarf shrub (6-15 inches) with slender greenish, warty, 

 mostly glabrous branches ; leaves membranaceous, oblong-lan- 

 ceolate or oblong, distinctly serrulate with "bristle-pointed teeth, 

 mostly shining on both sides but often hairy on midrib beneath ; 

 flowers on short pedicels ; corolla campanulate-cylindrical, short ; 

 berries large, globose, bluish-black with bloom, sweet ; the earli- 

 est to ripen north. {Figured: Bot. Mag. t.3434; Emerson, Trees 

 and Shrubs of Mass., ed. 5, 2:456; (photo.) Rep. Maine Agr. 

 Exp. Sta. 1898, 171.) — Dry hills and woods Newfoundland and 

 the Saskatchewan southward to New Jersey and Illinois. 



Var. angustifolium,. Gray, (Man. ed. 1, 261) A dwarf form, 

 with more decidedly lanceolate leaves. V. angustifoliiun, Ait. 

 1. c, V. salicinum, Aschers, 1. c, not Cham. Summits of moun- 

 tains northern New York and New England, Quebec to north 

 shore of Lake Superior and northward. 



This species is extremely variable in size and shape of fruit 

 and flowers, but with the exception of the variety noted, and the 

 black fruited form often associated with it, which is set off as 



