19.
Vaccinium tenellum
Aiton, Hort. Kew. 2: 12. 1789.
Small black blueberry
Cyanococcus tenellus
(Aiton) Small
Plants
forming extensive, open colonies, 1-7.5 dm; twigs yellowish green, ± terete, hairy.
Leaves
deciduous, rarely persistent; blade green, spatulate to elliptic, 13-40 × 3-17 mm, subcoriaceous, margins sharply to obscurely serrate, surfaces glandular abaxially, hairy especially when young, rarely glabrous.
Flowers:
calyx pale green, sometimes hairy; corolla usually white tinged with pink, cylindric, 5-9 mm; filaments ± hairy.
Berries
black, 6-8 mm diam., sometimes puberulent.
Seeds
5-25, ca. 1 mm.
2
n
= 24.
Flowering winter-spring. Dry sand hills, pine barrens, scrubby oak woods, open pine parkland, and flatwoods subject to burning; 0-200 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., Miss., N.C., S.C., Va.
