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Spring Flowers	Huckleberries bloom 1st
	Along waterfront presumably ‘warmer’

Vaccinium ovalifolium

There used to be 2 species but currently treated as one – older concept was that flowers bloomed before leaves appeared vs after leaves appear

Another differentiae was if style ‘extruded’ beyond corolla tube or not

	Shape flower
	When the 2 spp were differentiated Vaccinium alaskense was said to have a globose flower while V ovalifolium was ‘urceolate’ as here --- The latter also had reddish twigs as here Plus differences in Peduncle/ pedicil Terms illustrated

One of the neat things about Vaccinium as a genus is how ‘social’ it is – while not showing well in this image there was a large drop of nectar or ‘fly food’ -- (and note the ‘awn’ on the anther) plus of course flower becomes a huckleberry for birds and people to eat Less discussed is that roots form symbiosis with fungi to obtain nourishment etc – here mycobionts used in Taxonomy of Ericales clade See USDA site for general references

	While the image was taken to illustrate the flower shape – note the insect eggs --- presumably hatching when berry more advanced ----

Created by LG on March 19, 2007

Last updated on Tuesday, March 20, 2007