ERICACEAE (heath family) 639 



* * Flowers not articulated with the pedicel ; anthers exserted. 



■>- Leaves and hranchlets pubescent. 



1^ 2. V. stamineum L. (Deereekry, Squaw Huckleberry.) Diffusely 

 branched, 3-9 dm. high, somewhat pubescent ; leaves ovate or oval, pale, 

 glaucous or whitish underneath ; calyx glabrous or essentially so ; corolla 

 greenish-white or purplish ; anthers much exserted ; berries greenish or yellowish, 

 globular or pear-shaped, large, few-seeded, tart. (Polycodium Greene ; P. 

 candicans Small.) — Dry woods and plains, Mass. to Ont., and southw. 



3. V. melanoc&rpum Mohr. (Southern Gooseberry.) Similar, the young 

 parts minutely white-pubescent ; calyx white-tomentose ; fruit dark purple, 

 lustrous, palatable. {Polycodium Small.) — Upland woods, N. C. to Mo., and 

 southw. 



■1- H- Leaves and branchlets glabrous. 



i^4. V. neglSctum (Small) Fernald. Glabrous essentially throughout ; leaves 

 thin, at most ciliolate, becoming slightly coriaceous, oblong-lanceolate to narrowly 

 obovate, short^acuminate, green to slightly glaucous beneath ; calyx glabrous ; 

 corolla white or pink ; fruit greenish or yellowish, hardly edible. {Polycodium 

 Small.) — Dry woods, Va. to Kan., and southw. 



§ 2. CYAN0C6CCUS Gray. (Blueberries.) Corolla cylindraceous to cam- 

 panulate, b-toothed; filaments hairy; anthers included., awnless; berry 

 edible, mostly blue or black, completely or incompletely W-celled; flowers in 

 fascicles or short racemes, short-pedioeled, appearing from large scaly buds 

 with or before the leaves. 



* Leaves coriaceous, evergreen ; bracts firm, tardily deciduous. 



5. V. Myrsinites Lam. (Everoreen B.) Low (2-6 dm. high), with branches 

 puberulent when young ; leaves from obovate to oblong-lanceolate or spatulate, 

 1-3 cm. long, smooth and shining above, puberulent or glabrate and strongly 

 veiny beneath, entire or denticulate ; calyx with acute teeth ; corolla cylindra- 

 ceous, 6-8 mm. long ; fruit globose, blue-black. — Sandy oarrens, Va. to Fla. 

 and La. 



* * Leaves deciduous ; bracts scaly, early deciduous. 

 ^- Corolla cylindraceous when developed. 



6. V. virgaltum Ait. Low, more or less pubescent ; leaves ovate-oblong to 

 cuneate-lanceolate, usually acute and minutely serrulate, thinnish, shining at 

 least above, in maturity 2.5-5 cm. long ; flower-clusters sometimes virgate on 

 naked branches ; corolla rose-color, 7-10 mm. long ; berry black. — In swamps 

 and pine barrens, Staten I. and N. J. (according to Mackenzie) to Fla., etc. 



Var. ten£llum (Ait.) Gray. Lower; the mostly small (1-3 cm. long) leaves 

 and smaller (6-8 mm. long) nearly white flowers in shorter or closer clusters. — 

 Va. to 111. , Mo. , and southw. 



-t- *- Corolla globose-urceolate to ellipsoid. 



++ Low shrubs, mostly less than 1 m. high. 



7. V. pennsyl'vdnicum Lam. (Low Sweet B., Early Sweet B.) Dwarf 

 (2-6 dm. high); the green warty stems and branches glabrous (or pubescent 

 northward) ; leaves lanceolate or oblong, distinctly serrulate with bristle-pointed 

 teeth (rarely entire), bright green, smooth and shining both sides (or some- 

 times hairy on the midrib beneath), in maturity 2-3.5 cm. long, 8-15 mm. 

 broad; corolla short (6-7 mm. long), cylindric-bell-shaped ; berries bluish- 

 black and glaucous, varying to black or red, either with or without a bloom, 

 and rarely dull white (forma LEUcociRPUM Deane). — Dry hills, barrens,' etc., 

 Nfd., to Sask., s. to Va., 111., and Wise. — The lowest and earliest ripened of 

 the blueberries. Var. angustif6lium (Ait.) Gray. A dwarfer high-mountain 

 or northern form, with narrower lanceolate leaves, 7-20 mm. long, 3-7 mm. 

 broad. — Ct. {Graves) ; mts. of N. Y. and N. E. to Nfd., and far northw. 



Var. nigrum Wood. (Low Black B.) Leaves flrmer, blue-green, glaucous 



