Gaylussacia
Gaylussacia brachycera
huckleberry
box huckleberry, box-leaf whortleberry
erect;
twigs glabrous or hairy, sometimes glandular.
deciduous (G. brachycera persistent);
blade obovate or ovate to oblong or oblanceolate, membranous or coriaceous, margins entire or crenate (sometimes serrulate) [glandular-crenate], plane or revolute, glabrous or hairy;
venation reticulodromous.
persistent;
petiole 0.5–3 mm;
blade pale green abaxially, shiny dark green adaxially, ovate, 1–2.5 × 0.5–1.3 cm, coriaceous, base rounded, margins crenate or serrulate, (revolute), apex obtuse, without resinous dots, surfaces glabrous adaxially, glabrous or puberulent along midvein and near blade base.
axillary or terminal racemes, 2–8-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary.
spreading, 2–5-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary, ebracteate, 0.5–1 cm, puberulent.
0.5–3 mm, glabrous;
bracteoles (early deciduous), 1–3, (ovate), 2–4 mm, (margins ciliate).
sepals (4–)5, sometimes vestigial, connate basally, deltate (straight or inflexed in fruit);
petals 4–5, connate for nearly their entire lengths, greenish white or white to pink or orange to red, corolla urceolate, campanulate, or campanulate-conic, lobes much shorter than tube;
stamens 10, included, (slightly shorter than corolla);
filaments straight, flattened, glabrous or pilose, without spurs;
anthers without awns, dehiscent through narrowly oblong, terminal pores;
pistil 5–10-carpellate;
ovary inferior, 5- or 10-locular;
stigma capitate.
sepals 4–5, 0.3–0.5 mm, glabrous;
petals 4–5, corolla white to pink, campanulate-urceolate, 4 mm, lobes broadly deltate to rounded, 0.5–1.5 mm;
filaments 1–1.5 mm, glabrous;
anthers included, 1–1.5 mm, thecae not divergent distally;
ovary glabrous.
drupaceous, ovoid to globose, fleshy.
juicy, sweet, light blue, 6–8 mm diam., glabrous.
(pyrenes) 10, ellipsoid;
testa stony, papillose (smooth in G. ursina).
1–1.5 mm.
= 12.
Gaylussacia
Gaylussacia brachycera
Decachaena (Torrey & A. Gray) Lindley; Lasiococcus Small
Species ca. 50 (10 in the flora).
The genus Gaylussacia was organized into three sections by H. Sleumer (1967). The sections are: sect. Vitis-idaea (species 1) with coriaceous, persistent leaves lacking resinous dots; sect. Gaylussacia (species 2–5) with deciduous leaves with some stipitate-glandular hairs; and sect. Decamerium (species 6–10) with deciduous leaves and sessile glands. Molecular investigation by J. W. Floyd (2002) suggested these sections may not be entirely natural, and that the origin of the genus may be in North America, despite the greater diversity in South America.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Gaylussacia brachycera is a dwarf evergreen shrub that forms large, solid-mat, self-sterile colonies, each one appearing to consist of a single clone that may extend over more than one hectare. One colony in Perry County, Pennsylvania, is about 1.5 kilometers wide; it appears to be a single clone that is over 12,000 years old and has been labeled as the oldest living thing in the world.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaf blades 1-2.5 cm, margins crenate or serrulate, coriaceous, not sessile-glandular; leaves persistent [sect. Vitis-idaea]. | G. brachycera |
1. Leaf blades 1.9-6 cm, margins entire, membranous to subcoriaceous, sessile-glandular (or scattered stipitate-glandular-hairy); leaves deciduous [sect. Gaylussacia] | → 2 |
2. Inflorescence bracts equaling or longer than pedicels, persistent; sepals, pedicels, bracts, and/or leaf blades stipitate-glandular-hairy | → 3 |
2. Inflorescence bracts shorter than pedicels, early-deciduous; sepals, pedicels, bracts, and/or leaf blades not stipitate-glandular-hairy [sect. Decamerium] | → 6 |
3. Corollas 3-5 mm; plants 1-3(-4) dm. | G. dumosa |
3. Corollas 5.5-8.5 mm; plants 3-10(-15) dm | → 4 |
4. Corollas 5.5-6.5 mm; anthers 2.5-3.2 mm; peaty montane seepage bogs, w North Carolina. | G. orocola |
4. Corollas 6.5-8.5 mm; anthers 2.5-4.3 mm | → 5 |
5. Adaxial leaf surfaces not sessile-glandular; ovary hairs 1-1.5 mm; e Gulf coastal plain, s Alabama, n Florida, sw Georgia, se Louisiana, s Mississippi. | G. mosieri |
5. Adaxial leaf surfaces sessile-glandular; ovary hairs 0.3-0.5 mm; northeastern range, south to Maryland and Delaware, disjunct to North Carolina and South Carolina | G. bigeloviana |
6. Leaf blades sessile-glandular-hairy on both surfaces; racemes 0.5-1.5 cm. | G. baccata |
6. Leaf blades sessile-glandular hairy on abaxial surface only; racemes 0.7-4.5 cm | → 7 |
7. Leaf blades membranous, green to yellowish green or reddish green adaxially, apex acute to acuminate. | G. ursina |
7. Leaf blades subcoriaceous, green to glaucescent adaxially, apex rounded or obtuse | → 8 |
8. Twigs of current season glabrous or glabrate; leaf blades glabrous or hairy abaxially, glaucescent; plants 7.5-20 dm; east coast, south to e Georgia. | G. frondosa |
8. Twigs of current season densely hairy (hairs short); leaf blades sparsely to densely hairy abaxially, glaucous or glaucescent; plants 2-20 dm; se North Carolina and southward in coastal plain and west to Louisiana | → 9 |
9. Leaf blades 2.5-4 × 1-2 cm, surfaces glabrous or sparsely short-hairy (longer hairs ca. 0.1 mm), glaucous abaxially; calyces glaucous; plants 2-6(-10) dm. | G. nana |
9. Leaf blades 2.5-6 × 2-3 cm, surfaces densely short-hairy (longer hairs ca. 0.2 mm), glaucescent abaxially; calyces not glaucous; plants 7.5-20 dm. | G. tomentosa |
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