Vaccinium arboreum (Sparkleberry or Farkleberry) is a species of Vaccinium native to the southeastern United States, from southern Virginia west to southeastern Nebraska, south to Florida and eastern Texas, and north to Illinois. ^[1]

Description

Vaccinium arboreum is a shrub (rarely a small tree) growing to 3-5 m (rarely 9 m) tall. 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, 3-4 mm 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.

Natural range: Vaccinium arboreum

References

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