Vaccinium arboreum


Vaccinium arboreum is a species of Vaccinium native to the southeastern and south-central United States, from southern Virginia west to southeastern Nebraska, south to Florida and eastern Texas, and north to Illinois.

Description

Vaccinium arboreum is a shrub growing to 3–5 m tall, with a diameter at breast height of up to 35 cm. The leaves are evergreen in the south of the range, but deciduous further 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. Sparkleberry grows on sand dunes, hammocks, dry hillsides, meadows, and in rocky woods. It also grows on a variety of moist sites such as wet bottomlands and along creek banks.
The flowers are white, bell-shaped, and 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 in diameter, green at first, black when ripe, edible but bitter and tough. They are eaten by various wildlife.