HORTICULTURAL STATUS OF THE GENUS VACCINIUM. 1 53 



Spreading- shrub or small tree 6-25 feet high, with glabrous 

 or somewhat pubescent branchlets ; leaves thinnish-coriaceous, 

 smooth and shining above, obovate to oblong, entire to obscurely 

 denticulate; flowers profuse, axillary and leafy racemose; corolla 

 white, 5-lobed; berry small, globose, rather astringent. (Figured: 

 Lodd. Bot. Cab. t.1885; as V. diffusum, Bot. Mag. t.1607.) — 

 Sandy soil along river banks, Florida and Texas to North Caro- 

 lina and Illinois. 



The flowers are solitary and axillary along the terminal 

 branchlets, each pedicel being curved near the flower. The 

 leaves on these flowering branchlets are only about half the size 

 of other leaves on the same branches, though in other respects 

 similar. Some regard these leaves as bracts, and regard the 

 inflorescence as "leafy racemose." 



The species was introduced into the Kew Gardens in 1765 by 

 John Cree. It forms an irregular shrub too diffuse and strag- 

 gling to be of value except in masses, for which purpose it is 

 useful at the south. 



V. stamineum, L. (Deerberry, Sqnaw Huckleberry) 



Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 350, 1758. 



(Synonyms: V. elevatum Solander; Dunal in DC. Prod., 

 7: 567. V. album, Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 1 : 285, not L.) 



A divergently branched shrub 2-5 feet high with pubescent or 

 glabrous twigs ; leaves oval to oblong-lanceolate, acute, entire, 

 pale, glaucous or sometimes slightly pubescent beneath, 1-4 

 inches long, ^>-i^ inches wide; flowers very numerous in large, 

 leafy-bracted racemes ; corolla green, 5-cleft ; .anthers and style 

 exserted ; fruit large, globose or pyriform, greenish or yellowish, 

 few-seeded, almost inedible. (Figured: Bot. Rep. t.263. V. 

 stamineum H. B. & K. t.353, the V. Kunthianum, Klotzsch, has 

 shorter anther tubes and a hairy ovary.) — Dry woods and 

 thickets Maine to Minnesota, south to Florida and Louisiana ; 

 rare west of the Alleghanies. 



The Deerberry is found over a wide range in the northern 

 states and in the mountains south. It is also recorded as one 

 of the principal plants of the dry pine barrens of southern 

 Georgia (Harper). It is usually found naturally on gravelly 



