Vaccinium arboreum

Vaccinium arboreum (also called sparkleberry or farkleberry) is a species of Vaccinium native to south-eastern United States.  They are usually found in southern Virginia west to southeastern Missouri, and south to Florida and eastern Texas.

Vaccinium arboreum is a shrub (rarely a small tree) growing to 3-5 metres (sometimes up to 9 metres) tall.  The leaves are evergreen in the south of the range, but deciduous farther 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. The flowers are white, bell-shaped, 3-4 mm in 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.

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

Category:Berries
category:Vaccinium