vacciniacejE 545 



upwardly prolonged into tubes, and open by a terminal pore 

 (Fig. 225). The ovary is inferior, four- to five-celled or eight- 

 to ten-celled by false partitions, and has a fihform style, a 

 small stigma, unmodified at the tip, four- to five-lobed or 

 four- to five-toothed, and one to several ovules in each locule. 

 Fruit. — The fruit is globular and either a many-seeded 

 berry (as in Vaccinium) or drupe-like (as in Gaylussacia) . 

 The seeds are small, compressed, and have a bony seed coat, 

 and a small embryo imbedded in a fleshy endosperm. 



VACCINIUM 



The representatives are shrubs or small trees. The leaves 

 are leathery. The flowers are solitary or in short racemes. 

 They have characters as described above under the family. 



Pollination. — Coville describes the method of polhnation 

 in a blueberry. It is quite probable that this will hold true 

 for most Vaccinium species. The bell-shaped flower is in- 

 verted, the 10 stamens hang downward and are shorter than 

 the style. The flat filaments form a close circle about 

 the style, being held together by the interlacing mar- 

 ginal hairs. When an insect visits the fi«wer, the only easy 

 way it can get at the nectar, which is situated at the base of 

 the stamens on their inner side, next to the style, is to push 

 its proboscis between the anther tubes. In this process, the 

 mature pollen grains are shaken loose, and some of them stick 

 to the insect's body, to be carried by it to flowers visited sub- 

 sequently. The anther pores open inward. The stigma is 

 top-shaped and the very apex is the only receptive portion. 

 Hence the rim of the stigma just below the receptive surface, 

 prevents the falling pollen from reaching this surface. In 

 this way self-pollination is to a large extent prevented. 

 • If pollen from the same plant is used in pollination, the fruit 

 that is formed remains small and green, and later drops off. 



35 



