Vaccinium arboreum

Vaccinium arboreum (also called sparkleberry or farkleberry) is a species of Vaccinium native to south-eastern United States. They are usually found in southern Virginia west to southeastern Missouri, and south to Florida and eastern Texas.

Vaccinium arboreum is a shrub (rarely a small tree) growing to 3-5 metres (sometimes up to 9 metres) tall. The leaves are evergreen in the south of the range, but deciduous farther north where winters are colder. They are oval-elliptic with an acute apex, 3-7 cm long and 2-4 cm broad, with a smooth or very finely toothed margin. The flowers are white, bell-shaped, 3-4 mm in diameter, with a five-lobed corolla, produced in racemes up to 5 cm long. The fruit is a round dry berry about 6 mm diameter, green at first, black when ripe, edible but bitter and tough.

References

• Germplasm Resources Information Network: Vaccinium arboreum
• Missouriplants: Vaccinium arboreum
• Virginia Tech Dendrology: Vaccinium arboreum

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