THE HUCKLEBERRY FAMILY 



VACCmiACE^ Lindley 



JBOUT 20 genera of Vacciniaceae are known, with probably 300 species 

 of small trees or shrubs of wide geographic and altitudinal distribution. 

 The edible fruit of many of these plants renders them of consid- 

 erable local economic importance; best known among these are the 

 various Cranberries, the fruits of several species of Oxycoccus; also the Whortle- 

 berries, Huckleberries, and Blueberries (species of Vaccinium and Gaylussacia) 

 are of considerable importance, especially in the North. Of the 5 genera, with 

 nearly 60 species occurring in our area, but one forms a tree. 



The Vacciniaceae have alternate, simple, sometimes evergreen leaves. The 

 flowers are perfect, usually accompanied by bracts, variously disposed in clusters, 

 or solitary. The calyx-tube is joined to the ovary, its limb composed of 4 or 

 5 lobes; the corolla is usually gamopetalous with 4 or 5 lobes, or rarely of dis- 

 tinct petals, deciduous; the stamens are borne at the base of the corolla, and 

 usually double the number of its divisions ; filaments usually short and flattened ; 

 anthers attached by the back, 2-celled, the coimective entire or 2-parted; ovary 

 inferior, 2 to lo-celled, crowned by a disk, the style filiform, the stigma simple or 

 minutely 4- or 5-toothed; ovules solitary or several in each cell. The fruit is a 

 pulpy, globular drupe or berry, its 2 to 10 cells i-seeded or more; seeds small; 

 endosperm fleshy; embryo central. 



TREE HUCKLEBERRY 



GENUS BATODENDEON NUTTALL 







Species Batodendron arborenm (Marshall) Nuttall 

 Vaccinium arboreum Marshall 



HIS small tree or shrub is also called Farkleberry, Sparkleberry, Myrtle- 

 berry, Gooseberry, and Blueberry; it occurs in the sandy soils of the 

 Gulf States from North Carolina to Florida and Texas, being most 

 abundant in pinelands; its maximum height is 9 meters, with a trunk 

 diameter of 2.5 dm. 



The trunk is usually short, the branches slender and crooked. The bark is 

 about 2.5 mm. thick, close, red-brown and scaly. The twigs are slender, hairy, 

 reddish, becoming smooth and dark red. The winter buds are blunt, 2.5 mm. 

 long. The leaves are thin, leathery, oval or obovate, 2.5 to 5 cm. long, pointed, 



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