HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRY 



Vaccinium corymbosum Linnaeus 



Highbush blueberry is better known by its delicious fruit than by 

 the beautiful flowers which are so attractive in spring. These are 

 borne thickly on the branches and attract many insects to their nectar 

 feast. But it is when loaded with fruit that the plant's principal 

 claim to our interest is acknowledged. While the wild berry is attrac- 

 tive, the improved varieties developed by Dr. Frederick V Coville 

 are our admiration and delight. The berries of these cultivated forms 

 have reached seven-eighths of an inch in diameter. Highbush blue- 

 berries are grown in acid soils, and as they are very hardy/many waste 

 places in our Northern States can be utilized to produce a crop of 

 delicious fruit. 



Highbush blueberry ranges, in its numerous forms, from North 

 Carolina (and perhaps farther southward) westward to the Missis- 

 sippi Valley, and north to Minnesota and Maine. 



The specimen sketched was grown in the greenhouses of the 

 Department of Agriculture in Washington from specimens obtained 

 in New Jersey. 



PLATE 2.2.8 



