Dwarf Blueberry
Categories:
Vii Wild Food On The Trail
Perhaps the most satisfactory of all berries when one is really hungry
is the blueberry, of which there are several varieties. The _dwarf
blueberry_ is probably the most common. It is the earliest of the
blueberries to ripen and grows in the thin, sandy, and rocky soil which
is spurned by most other plants. You will find it upon barren hillsides,
in rocky fields, and in dry pine woods. The berries are round, blue,
abou
the size of peas, and are covered with bloom like the grape. They
grow in thick clusters at the end of the branch and are tipped with fine
calyx teeth. The seeds are so small as to be almost unnoticed and the
soft ripe berry will bruise easily.
The flavor of all blueberries has a nutty quality which seems to give
the berry more substance as a food. The leaf is rather narrow and
pointed at each end; the under side is a lighter green than the upper
and both are glossy. In the fall the leaves turn red and drop easily.
The bush is low and the branches usually covered with small, white dots.