Genus 5. 



HUCKLEBERRY FAMILY. 



699 



Corolla nearly cylindric. 



Tall swamp shrub ; corolla pink, 3"-4" long. 

 Low upland shrub ; corolla white, 2"-^" long. 



I. Vaccinium uliginosum L. Great or Bog Bilberry. 

 Bog Whortleberry. Bleaberry. Fig. 3259. 



Vaccinium uliginosum L. Sp. PI. 350. 1753. 



A stiff much-branched shrub, 6'-24' high. Leaves thiols 

 when mature, glabrous or nearly so on both sides, dull, 

 pale or glaucous beneath, obovate, oblong, or oval, obtuse, 

 or retuse, narrowed at the base, entire, nearly sessile, finely 

 reticulate-veined, 5"-i2" long; flowers 2-4 together, or 

 sometimes solitary near the ends of the branches, mostly 

 shorter than the drooping pedicels; calyx 4-lobed (some- 

 times 5-lobed) ; corolla pink, ovoid or urn-shaped, 4-5- 

 toothed; stamens 8-10; berry blue to black, with a bloom, 

 about 3" in diameter, sweet. 



Summits of the mountains of New England and the Adiron- 

 dacks, mainly above timber-line ; Newfoundland and Labrador 

 to Quebec, Maine, and shores of Lake Superior, to Alaska. 

 Also in northern Europe and Asia. Bog-blueberry. June-July. 

 Fruit ripe July-Aug. 



14. V. virgatum. 



15. V. tenellum. 



2. Vaccinium caespitosum Michx. 

 Bilberry. Fig. 3260. 



Dwarf 



Vaccinium caespitosum Michx. El. Bor. Am. i : 234. 1803. 



A shrub, 3'-i2' high, much branched, nearly glabrous 

 throughout, the twigs not angled. Leaves obovate or 

 oblong-cuneate, obtuse or acute, 6"-i2" long, green and 

 shining both sides, nearly sessile, serrulate with close 

 bluntish teeth ; flowers mostly solitary in the axils and 

 longer than their drooping pedicels ; calyx slightly S-toothed 

 (rarely 4-toothed) ; corolla obovoid or obovoid-oblong, 

 pink or white, 5-toothed or rarely 4-toothed ; stamens 10, 

 rarely 8; berry blue with a bloom, sweet, about 3" in 

 diameter. 



Rocky and gravelly soil, Labrador to Alaska, Maine, Ver- 

 mont, northern New York, Wisconsin and south in the Rocky 

 Mountains to Colorado, ascending to the highest mountain 

 summits in New York and New England. June-July. Fruit 

 ripe Aug. 



3. Vaccinium membranaceum Dougl. 

 Thin-leaved Bilberry. Fig. 3261. 



Vaccinium myrtilloides Hook. Fl. Bor. Am; 2 : 32. 

 1834. Not Michx. 1803. 



Vaccinium membranaceum Dougl. ; Torr. Bot. U. S. 

 Expl. Exp. 377. 1874. 



A branching shrub, i°-S° high, nearly glabrous 



throughout, the twigs slightly angled. Leaves 



oval, oblong or ovate, thin or membranous, green 



both sides, not shining, acutish to acuminate, short- 



petioled, sharply and finely serrulate, i'-2i' long; 



flowers mostly solitary in the axils, their recurved 



pedicels becoming erect in fruit ; calyx-limb entire 



or slightly toothed; corolla depressed-globose or 



globose-urceolate, greenish or purplish, mostly 



5-toothed; stamens mostly 10; berry dark purple 



to black, rather acid. 



In moist woods, northern Michigan ; Oregon and 

 British Columbia. June-July. Fruit ripe July-Aug. 



