Gainesville Shrub

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

This is the second year I have seen this. Couldn't ID it last year. Grows with vacciniums. Berry is the size of a blueberry. The end kind of has a crown but if so not pronounced. Berry is mealy inside, crumbly, might have 10 seeds more or less, kind of difficult to count. Doesn't really look like a Huckleberry plus it is fruiting in the middle of our winter, January. Berries are not bitter.

Featured Answer

jekeesl (south-central Arkansas)

7 years ago

Zorba, note that the following comments assume (maybe incorrectly) that the plant in question is either Gaylussacia or Aronia.

I checked the keys and Gaylussacia has fruits with 10 seeds. Aronia has pomes with 4-8 pyrenes. If Gaylussacia, it would be in the group with bracts shorter than pedicels and bracts deciduous. Of those, G. ursina seems to be the best fit. The other two Gaylussacia options in the Gainsville area (baccata and dummosa) have much shorter petioles.

If the fruits have just 4-8 pyrenes, then Aronia melanocarpa would be a good fit as that one has black fruits.

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Comments (6)

tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
7 years ago
Aronia? Perhaps arbutifolia.

tj
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I am fairly sure it is heath family and I would have said huckleberry/Gaylussacia based on the photo and your description. Have you ever gone looking in the summer or fall for flowers?

According to BONAP there are several species that grow in Florida so perhaps the one you are familiar with isn’t this one. In the link below you can click on maps for each species to see it enlarged.

http://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Gaylussacia

i would look up each of the species that are known in your county based on the maps and see if one of them is late to fruit.
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zorba_the_greek
Original Author
7 years ago
I'm reasonably familiar with the huckleberries... the end of the berry did not have much of a crown. It just didn't fit my ah-ha moment. Usually I am not in doubt when I see a huckleberry. This caused doubt.
zorba_the_greek
Original Author
7 years ago
How about Aronia melanocarpa?
tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
7 years ago
Could be melanocarpa, but as arbutifolia fruit ages in winter, the darker it can become and that one reddish fruit in the top right had me leaning that way.

tj