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dwarf huckleberry

Blue Ridge huckleberry

Habit Plants 1–3(–4) dm, forming small colonies; branches ascending; twigs of current season pale green, stipitate-glandular-hairy. Plants 4–10 dm, forming small colonies (by rhizomes); branches ascending; twigs of current season grayish brown, puberulent and sparsely stipitate-glandular, becoming glabrate.
Leaves

petiole 0.5–1.5 mm;

blade light green abaxially, shiny dark green adaxially, oblanceolate to obovate, 2.5–4 × 0.3–1 cm, subcoriaceous, base cuneate, margins entire, (scattered stipitate-glandular-hairy and ciliate, 2–5 cilia per mm), apex obtuse to subacute, mucronate, surfaces scattered stipitate-glandular-hairy and sessile-glandular, adaxial surface sometimes glabrescent.

petiole 0.5–1.5 mm;

blade light green abaxially, dark green adaxially, oblanceolate to obovate, 1.9–2.9 × 0.9–1.2 cm, subcoriaceous, base cuneate, margins entire, (scattered stipitate-glandular-hairy and ciliate, 6–8 cilia per mm), apex subacute, mucronate, surfaces persistently stipitate-glandular-hairy and sessile-glandular (often sparsely stellate-eglandular-hairy abaxially).

Inflorescences

erect or arching, 5–8-flowered, bracteate, 3–6 cm, stipitate-glandular-hairy;

bracts persistent, leaflike, expanding to 5–12 mm, equaling or longer than pedicels, hairy and stipitate-glandular-hairy.

erect or arching, 4–8-flowered, bracteate, 2–5 cm, hairy and stipitate-glandular;

bracts persistent, leaflike, 2–5 mm, expanding to 5–10 mm, longer than pedicels, densely stipitate-glandular-hairy (hairs 0.3–0.5 mm).

Pedicels

2–3 mm, hairy and stipitate-glandular-hairy;

bracteoles 1–2, 2–5 mm.

2–3 mm, stipitate-glandular-hairy;

bracteoles 1–2, 2–5 mm.

Flowers

sepals 5, 2 mm, sparsely to moderately hairy (hairs 0.2–0.3 mm) and stipitate-glandular-hairy;

petals 5, corolla white to pink, sometimes reddish, campanulate, 3–5 mm, lobes triangular, 1–1.5 mm;

filaments 0.3–0.5 mm, sparsely hairy;

anthers included, 3–3.5 mm, thecae divergent distally;

ovary stipitate-glandular-hairy, hairs 0.2–0.3 mm.

sepals 5, 2 mm, densely stipitate-glandular-hairy (hairs 0.3–0.5 mm);

petals 5, corolla white, campanulate, 5.5–6.5 mm (averaging 6 mm), lobes triangular, 1–1.5 mm;

filaments 0.3–0.5 mm, sparsely hairy;

anthers included, 2.5–3.2 mm (averaging 2.8 mm), thecae divergent distally;

ovary glandular-hairy (hairs 0.3–0.5 mm).

Drupes

juicy, insipid, black, 6–8 mm diam., stipitate-glandular.

juicy, insipid, black, 6–8 mm diam., sparsely glandular-hairy.

Seeds

1.5–1.8 mm.

1.5–1.8 mm.

Gaylussacia dumosa

Gaylussacia orocola

Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer. Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat Xeric sandhills, xeric to dry pine-oak uplands, oak barrens and heaths, mesic to wet pine flatwoods and pine barrens, dry to moist pine savannas, sometimes in seepage communities Peaty montane seepage bogs
Elevation 0-1200 m (0-3900 ft) 500-1800 m (1600-5900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA; WV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
NC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Gaylussacia dumosa and G. bigeloviana have been confused due to a reliance on insufficient characters to distinguish them and due to descriptions and ranges that were based partly on misidentified specimens. Gaylussacia dumosa is a low shrub of the coastal plain and lower piedmont, with scattered occurrences in the upper piedmont and at moderate elevations in the mountains.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Of conservation concern.

Gaylussacia orocola is known from five counties in western North Carolina, where it inhabits montane bogs in the Blue Ridge Mountains with other rare or disjunct taxa, such as Sarracenia jonesii, S. purpurea var. montana, and Myrica gale.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 532. FNA vol. 8, p. 533.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Gaylussacia Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Gaylussacia
Sibling taxa
G. baccata, G. bigeloviana, G. brachycera, G. frondosa, G. mosieri, G. nana, G. orocola, G. tomentosa, G. ursina
G. baccata, G. bigeloviana, G. brachycera, G. dumosa, G. frondosa, G. mosieri, G. nana, G. tomentosa, G. ursina
Synonyms Vaccinium dumosum, G. dumosa var. hirtella, G. dumosa var. humilis, G. hirtella, Lasiococcus dumosus, Vaccinium dumosum var. humile, Vaccinium hirtellum Lasiococcus orocola
Name authority (Andrews) A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 3: 50. (1846) (Small) Camp: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 62: 132. 1935 ,
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