| + | Vaccinium pennsylvanicum, Lam. Low Blueberry. Fig. 3893. A dwarf shrub, 6-15 in. high: branchlets glabrous or hairy northward: lvs. membranous, oblong-lanceolate or elliptical, acute, distinctly serrulate with bristly pointed teeth, shining and green on both sides but often hairy on the midrib beneath: fls. on short pedicels: corolla short-cylindraceous, greenish white: berries large, bluish black with a bloom, sweet, the earliest to ripen in the North. E. N. Amer. B.M. 3434. Em. 2:456. Rep. Me. Exp. Sta. 1898:171. Var. angustifolium, Gray. A dwarf form with more decidedly lanceolate lvs. Newfoundland, mountains of New England and northward. Var. nigrum, Wood (V. nigrum, Brit.). Foliage very glaucous: berries black, without bloom. Usually found in colonies in the same situations as the typical form and occasionally the two are found intermingled. Rep. Me. Exp. Sta. 1898: 171. The fls. are said to appear earlier than those of V. pennsylvanicum.—"This species is extremely variable in size and shape of fr. and fls., but, with the exception of the varieties noted, the variations do not appear sufficiently constant to warrant making separations. In general the plant is of low, semi-prostrate habit, is extremely prolific, and thrives well on dry sandy hills. It furnishes the bulk of the blueberries found in the eastern markets. When mown down or burned, the new erect shoots produce, the following year, a long spike-like mass of bloom and fruit, which may be stripped off by the handfuls. Because of its character and early ripening habit, it is known on the blueberry plains as 'Early Sweet’ or 'Low Sweet.' " |