1. Vaccinium Uliginòsum L. Great Or Bog Bilberry. Bog Whortleberry. Bleaberry

Fig. 3259

Vaccinium uliginosum L. Sp. Pl. 350. 1753.

A stiff much-branched shrub, 6-24' high. Leaves thick when mature, glabrous or nearly so on both sides, dull, pale or glaucous beneath, obovate, oblong, or oval, obtuse, or retuse, narrowed at the base, entire, nearly sessile, finely reticulate-veined, 5" - 12" long; flowers 2-4 together, or sometimes solitary near the ends of the branches, mostly shorter than the drooping pedicels; calyx 4-lobed (some-times 5-lobed); corolla pink, ovoid or urn-shaped, 4-5-toothed; stamens 8-10; berry blue to black, with a bloom, about 3" in diameter, sweet.

Summits of the mountains of New England and the Adiron-dacks, mainly above timber-line; Newfoundland and Labrador to Quebec, Maine, and shores of Lake Superior, to Alaska. Also in northern Europe and Asia. Bog-blueberry. June-July. Fruit ripe July-Aug.

2. Vaccinium Caespitòsum Michx. Dwarf Bilberry

Fig. 3260

Vaccinium caespitosum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 234. 1803.

A shrub, 3'-12' high, much branched, nearly glabrous throughout, the twigs not angled. Leaves obovate or oblong-cuneate, obtuse or acute, 6"-l2" long, green and shining both sides, nearly sessile, serrulate with close bluntish teeth; flowers mostly solitary in the axils and longer than their drooping pedicels; calyx slightly 5-toothed (rarely 4-toothed); corolla obovoid or obovoid-oblong, pink or white, 5-toothed or rarely 4-toothed; stamens 10, rarely 8; berry blue with a bloom, sweet, about 3" in diameter.

Rocky and gravelly soil, Labrador to Alaska, Maine, Vermont, northern New York, Wisconsin and south in the Rocky Mountains to Colorado, ascending to the highest mountain summits in New York and New England. June-July. Fruit ripe Aug.

3. Vaccinium Membranàceum Dougl. Thin-Leaved Bilberry

Fig. 3261

Vaccinium myrtilloides Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 32. 1834. Not Michx. 1803.

Vaccinium membranaceum Dougl.; Torr. Bot. U. S. Expl. Exp. 377. 1874

A branching shrub, 1°-5° high, nearly glabrous throughout, the twigs slightly angled. Leaves oval, oblong or ovate, thin or membranous, green both sides, not shining, acutish to acuminate, short-petioled, sharply and finely serrulate, 1'-2 1/2' long; flowers mostly solitary in the axils, their recurved pedicels becoming erect in fruit; calyx-limb entire or slightly toothed; corolla depressed-globose or globose-urceolate, greenish or purplish, mostly 5-toothed; stamens mostly 10; berry dark purple to black, rather acid.

In moist woods, northern Michigan; Oregon and British Columbia. June-July. Fruit ripe July-Aug.