FAMILY: ERICACEAE
ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: farkleberry, tree sparkleberry
LEAVES: tardily deciduous, alternate, simple; blades orbicular to elliptic-oval, 1-3” long by 1” wide, coriaceous above, veins conspicuous; margins entire or with minute glandular teeth; apex acute to rounded, usually bearing a small mucro; leaves can be highly variable on shoots emerging following fire – these leaves are narrower than normal
FLOWER: perfect (bisexual), white and bell shaped and about 0.35” broad, occurring on short axillary racemes or solitary in leaf axils; pedicels long and pendant with two quickly deciduous medial bracts; flowering March to May
FRUIT: lustrous black berry ca. 1/4” broad, edible but not flavorful and with an unpleasant mealy texture
TWIGS: those of the season shaggy pubescent, year-old twigs glabrous with thin gray film which breaks up to reveal reddish-brown bark
BARK: bark on older plants thin, reddish brown, with narrow shreddy ridges
FORM: shrub to small tree, often with multiple trunks; plants tend to have many crooked branches
HABITAT: mesic sandy loam to silt loam soils of hardwood and mixed pine-hardwood forests; also xeric sandhills (can thickets on such sites lacking fine fuels to carry surface fire) and sandstone glades; characteristic of pimple mounds in hardwood flatwoods
WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative Upland (FACU): Usually occurs in non-wetlands, but may occur in wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
RANGE: broadly southeastern U.S. [USGS Range Map]
USES: ornamental
WILDLIFE: important nectar source for pollinators, low to moderate deer browse, utilized mainly in fall and winter; fruit eaten by deer, rabbits and other mammals and numerous species of birds; shrubby thickets provide cover
Best Recognition Features:
- shrub to small tree with crooked branches
- bark of older plants reddish-brown and shreddy
- typical leaves roundish, glossy above, veins conspicuous; apex with a mucro (minute spine-like tip)
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