Vaccinium fragile Franch.

TSO logo

Sponsor this page

For information about how you could sponsor this page, see How You Can Help

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Vaccinium fragile' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/vaccinium/vaccinium-fragile/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Synonyms

  • V. setosum C. H. Wright

Glossary

calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
ciliate
Fringed with long hairs.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
globose
globularSpherical or globe-shaped.
inflorescence
Flower-bearing part of a plant; arrangement of flowers on the floral axis.
midrib
midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
raceme
Unbranched inflorescence with flowers produced laterally usually with a pedicel. racemose In form of raceme.
reflexed
Folded backwards.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Vaccinium fragile' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/vaccinium/vaccinium-fragile/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

An evergreen shrub 1 to 3 ft high; young shoots round, densely bristly. Leaves ovate to oval, tapered to both ends; finely and regularly toothed, 12 to 1 in. long, 14 to 38 in. wide, nearly or quite glabrous above, downy beneath especially on the midrib. Flowers produced in a cluster of racemes during May and June from the terminal leaf-axils; racemes 1 to 2 in. long, downy; corolla urn-shaped, white to rosy red, 16 to 14 in. long, with five small reflexed teeth at the mouth; calyx-lobes ciliate. Fruits black, globose, 316 in. wide.

Native of W. China; described from specimens collected by Père Delavay in Yunnan, where it reaches to above the tree-line. Wilson collected it in fruit in W. Szechwan during his first expedition for the Arnold Arboretum, but apparently it was first introduced to this country by Forrest, according to whom the fruits in their season are the principal food of the common pheasant of Yunnan. According to the field notes of its various collectors the colour of the flowers in wild plants varies from white to salmon red. The beauty of the inflorescence is heightened by the red bracts on the raceme. Lionel de Rothschild grew this species at Exbury and thought highly of it as a dwarf evergreen, but it never became fully established in gardens and is now rare.