210 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



cle of export. Of late years, especially in Massachusetts, attention has 

 been given to the culture of the Cranberry, and it is found to be a 

 profitable crop upon lands otherwise of little value. In cultivation it 

 is found to succeed in situations much dryer than those in which it 

 grows in the wild state. Another species, the small cranberry (V. Oxy- 

 COc'cus, L.), has a much smaller fruit, spotted when young, but is sel- 

 dom found in great abundance. 



^ 2. Coro'la oblong cylindrical or slightly urn-shaped, b-toothed; anthers 

 10, awnless ; Jilaments hairy; berries blue or black with a bloom, sweet. 

 Blueberry. 



2. V. Pennsylvan'ieum, Lam. Dwarfish ; branches yellowish green, 

 somewhat warty ; leaves lance-cblong, mucronate-serrulate, smooth and 

 shining ; racemes fasciculate. 



Pennsylvanian Vaccinium. Dwarf Blueberry. Sugar Huckleberry. 



stem 6 inches to 2 feet high, much branched ; branches more or less angular with a 

 green warty bark. Leaves 1 to near 2 inches long, mostly acute at each end, nearly sessile, 

 distinctly serrulate, with bristle-pointed teeth. Racemes 4- 8-flowered, terminal and lateral, 

 numerous from buds without leaves and often on leafless branches ; pedicels 1-4 lines long, 

 with small lanceolate bractlets at or near the base ; corolla pale red or greenish-white 

 tinged with red. Ben-ies abundant, large and sweet. 



Hills and woodlands : Pennsylvania, northward. Fl. May. Fr. July. 



Obs. This is the earliest of the Blueberries, ripening its fruit in July ; 

 it is found occupying large patches upon poor and otherwise unproduc- 

 tive land. In the state of Maine it is especially abundant, and attains 

 its greatest perfection ; we have seen the slender bushes actually pros- 

 trate with their load of fruit. Although it is too soft to bear trans- 

 portation as well as some other kinds, the fruit is the most highly valued 

 by the country people of New England for domestic consumption. ^ 



3. V. vaccil'lans, Solander. Low, glabrous ; branches angular, smooth ; 

 leaves obovate or oval, serrulate or entire, smooth on both sides, pale 

 or dull. 



Low Blueberry. 



stem 1-23^ feet high ; branches greenish sometimes clouded with purplish, very closely 

 set with white dots, sometimes warty. Leaves 1 inch to 1)^ inch long, rather obscurely ser- 

 rulate, the serratures more distinct towards the apex. Racemes from scaly buds distinct 

 from the leaf-buds ; pedicels shorter than the flowers ; coroUa somewhat bell-shaped with 

 spreading segments, yellowish white, often tinged with red. Berries large, sweet and 

 covered with a light bluish bloom. 



Woodlands : Penn., northward. Fl. May. Fr. August. 



Obs. A much larger plant than the preceding species, and distin- 

 guished from it not only by its greater size, but by the dull color of its 

 foliage. The fruit-bearing branches appear above those bearing the 

 leaves, and the bush appears leafless towards the summit. The fruit of 

 this, as well as that of the preceding, is sometimes called " Sugar 

 Huckleberry." ^ 



4. V. COrymbo'sTim, L. Tall ; young branches pubescent ; leaves 



