39 



V. Cfassifolium, Andr. 

 Andrews, Bot. Rep. t.ios, 1798. 



(Synonyms: V. carnosum, Pers. Syn. PL 1:479; V. myrti- 

 folinm, Michx. Fl. i : 228.) 



Slender, trailing shrub ; stems 2-3 feet long, glabrous ; leaves 

 small, y^-y2 inch long, oval or narrowly oblong, sparsely serru- 

 late or entire, shining; flowers few, almost sessile, in small 

 axillary clusters, nearly white, or tinged with red ; berries black. 

 (Figured: Bot. Rep. t.105; Bot. Mag. t.1152.)— Sandy bogs, 

 near the coast. North Carolina to Georgia. 



Useful for the shrubbery border, south. 



V. olig-inosam, L. (Bog Bilberry) 

 Linnaeus, Sp. PL 350, 1753. 



(Synonym: V. gaultherioides, Bigel. New Eng. Med. Jour. 

 5:335-) 



A stiff, much branched shrub 3^-2 feet high ; leaves thick, 

 oboyate or oval, obtuse or retuse, yi-i inch long, nearly sessile; 

 flowers 2-4 together, or sometimes solitary; calyx 4-parted, 

 sometimes 5-parted; corolla urn-shaped, 4 or 5-lobed, pink; 

 stamens 8-10; berries bluish-black with bloom. (Figured:-!?!. 

 Dan. t.231 ; Reichenb. Ic. Germ. 17, t.ii68; Sowerby, Eng. Bot. 

 6:878 (Ibid. ed. i, 9:581); Deakin, Flor. Brit. 2, 19, 630; 

 Schlecht., Flor. Deutch. 20:2037; Pratt, Fl. PL 3:351.) — 

 Labrador to New England ; mountainous regions of New York ; 

 Lake Superior to Alaska. Also in northern Europe and Asia. 



Usually considered a high mountain species, but found by the 

 writer on the blueberry barrens of eastern Maine and reported 

 as abundant along the ledgy shores of the Carrabassett River 

 (Fernald) and along the St. John at Fort Kent (Furbish) in 

 the same state. The varieties mucronatum Herder, and micro- 

 phyllum, Lange, the former from Alaska and the latter from the 

 west coast of Greenland, lat. 70° (Schuchert and White, Torr. 

 Bui. 27 : 66) are not of importance. 



The plant is useful for the shrubbery border in cold wet 

 locations, and its fruit though of poor quality, is used for food 

 by the natives of the northwest. 



