Vaccinium cereum (L. fil.) Forst. fil.

Vaccinium cereum (L.f.) Forster f

Vaccinium cereum (L.f.) Forster f., Prodr., 28, 1786.—Skottsberg, Acta Hort. Gothob., 8:87, 91–97, 1933.

Andromeda cerea L.f., Suppl., 238, 1781.

Small shrub, branchlets and leaf-bases somewhat puberulent to glabrous; leaves oval to broadly obovate, up to 4 × 2.5 cm, very slightly to markedly shortly acuminate, margins minutely serrulate to subentire, blades stiff, reticulate-veined, petioles very short, thick; flowers on pedicels up to 8–10 mm long, with one or two bractlets near base; calyx lobes ovate, 2–3 mm long; corolla white, ovoid-urceolate, to 1 cm long, with 5 ovate lobes; anthers with 2 subulate erect or divergent appendages; fruit purple-black, with many angular seeds.

The type is from the Society Islands.

Skottsberg (1933) made a detailed study of this species, in which he recognized two varieties from Tahiti with two forms each and one variety from Rarotonga, and he referred the Marquesan V. adenandrum to var. cereum f. eriostemon Skottsberg.

Forest Brown, on the basis of more material, regarded the Marquesan plant as V. cereum var. adenandrum, which is the disposition adopted here. Certain Marquesan specimens, in their sharply serrate leaf margins and pubescent stems resemble more var. cereum. Evidence is insufficient to tell if they constitute a separate population or are merely aberrant individuals.

Vaccinium cereum (L.f.) G. Forster var. cereum

Vaccinium cereum var. typicum Skottsberg, Acta horti Gothob. 8:85, fig. 1–10. 1933.

Vaccinium cereum var. genuinum Skottsberg, Acta horti Gothob. 8:87, fig. 1–10. 1933 [in obs.].

DESCRIPTION.—Flowers glabrous. Typical form with filaments glabrous.

TYPE.—Collected by Forster in Tahiti, 1773–1774. Previously collected by Banks in 1769.

RANGE.—Society Islands: Bidwill in 1850, pro parte, flower and fruit (K, fide Skottsberg). Tahiti: Forster in 1773–1774 (S, flower; K, fruit; B, 2 sheets, erroneously labeled “Ins. Amicor.,” flower and fruit; fide Skottsberg); Sparrman in 1773–1774 (S, 3 sheets, 1 erroneously labeled “Nova Zeylandia,” flower); D'Urville in 1837–1840 (P, fide Skottsberg); St. John and Fosberg 17109, Orofena, 1350 m, 25 September 1934, flower and fruit (BISH).

The following have not been determined as to variety.

Society Islands: Nelson in 1777 (BM, fide Seemann); Wiles and Smith (BM, fide Seemann). Tahiti: Banks and Solander in 1769 (BM, fide Seemann); Bertero and Moerenhout in 1831–1834 (P, fide Guillemin); Hombron in 1837–1840, and Lépine 174 in 1847 (P, fide Drake del Castillo); Vesco in 1847 (P, fide Decaisne); Nadeaud 405 in 1856–1859 (P, fide Drake del Castillo); Quayle 37, Aorai trail, alt. 1694 m, 22 September 1921, flower and fruit (BISH, 2 sheets); Quayle, Pirae-Aorai trail, 1–3 August 1922, flower and fruit (BISH, 5 sheets).

Skottsberg (1933:91) has called attention to the Forster specimens labeled “Ins. Amicor.,” with the remark that “it is not impossible that the labels speak true.” These specimens were probably the basis of the report in Steudel (1841, 2:739) and the Index Kewensis (2:1162) of this species being native to Tonga rather than Tahiti. Forster (1786b) records it from Tahiti only, and none of the 18 (at least) collectors who have visited Tonga since Forster's time have found it there. The “Ins. Amicor.” specimens, according to Skottsberg, agree in all respects with the typical plant, which is not positively known outside of Tahiti. The same remarks apply to Sparrman's “Nova Zeylandia” specimens.

Hooker (1837) and Skottsberg (1927:86; 1933:91) cite Cuming 1429 from “Toobouai” (Tubuai, Austral Islands) at Kew, but the plant is sterile and thus undeterminable.

Vaccinium cereum (L.f.) G. Forster

Andromeda cerea L.f., Supp. 238. 1781.

Vaccinium cereum (L.f.) G. Forster, Prod. 28. 1786b.—Endlicher, Ann. Wien Mus. 1:170. 1836.—Guillemin, Ann. Sci. Nat., ser. 2, 7:248. 1837.—W. Hooker, Icon. Pl. 1, sub t. 87. [excl. var. beta, gamma, and delta, and t. 87]. 1837.—Dunal in de Candolle, Prod. 7:575 [excl. var. beta, gamma, and delta]. 1839a.—Steudel, Nom. Bot. 2:739 [excl. var. beta and gamma]. 1841.—Pancher in Cuzent, Iles Soc. Tahiti. 234. 1860.—Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 5:323, 1862c.—Seemann, Fl. Vit. 146. 1866.—Nadeaud, Enum. Pl. Tahiti. 62. 1873.—Butteaud, Fl. Tahit. 55. 1891.—Drake del Castillo, Ill. Fl. Ins. Pac. 7:223. 1892; Fl. Polyn. 115. 1892.—Skottsberg, Bish. Mus. Bull. 43:86, t. 6 pro parte. 1927; Acta horti Gothb. 8:83, fig. 1–10, 30–32. 1933.

Metagonia cerea (L.f.) Nuttall, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc., n.ser., 8:263. 1843.

Vaccinium alaternoides Solander ex Seemann, Fl. Vit. 146. 1866 [pro syn.; non Humboldt, Bonpland, and Kunth 1819 (Peru)].

DESCRIPTION (based on the Tahitian specimens seen).—A shrub, often arborescent (Grant 3754 was 2.5 m high and 7.5 cm in diameter at base; St. John 17007 was 2 m high). Wood very hard and rather heavy (Grant 4373 with specific gravity of 0.82). Leaves large (5 × 3.4 cm) and coriaceous on old twigs, thinner and smaller (average 2.3 × 1.6 cm, may be 1.8 × 1.1 cm) on flowering shoots, persisting for 4–5 years, elliptical on old twigs, usually somewhat obovate on flowering branches, shiny above, paler beneath, appressed glandular-serrate with 9 to 19 teeth per side (may vary to the extent of 4 teeth on opposite sides of the same leaf), obtuse, acutish, acuminate, or abruptly apiculate. Flowers produced throughout the year, axillary, solitary, on 5–8 mm pedicels, about 1 cm long. Bractlets 2, rarely 1, at or below the middle of the pedicel, about 4 mm long. Corolla white, or with a reddish tip. Aristae of anthers 0.8–1 mm long. Fruit dark reddish purple to black, about 1.5 cm in diameter, very palatable, though St. John states on the label of his no. 17109, “rather acid, not at all sweet.”

The young twigs and bases of the leaves are puberulent, and occasionally even the mature leaves may be sparingly so on both surfaces (Grant 3754). The pubescence of the flower is very variable, and on this character Skottsberg has founded a number of varieties and forms. While these segregates merge to some extent, they are nevertheless usually recognizable and accordingly can be maintained. The receptacle varies from glabrous to densely tomentulose with short curly hairs (St. John 17007). Some of the sheets show variation from an essentially glabrous flower to one sparingly puberulent (Grant 4373, St. John 17109). All the flowering specimens seen in which the stamens were examined have hirsute filaments.

RANGE.—Society Islands, Marquesas, Rarotonga. The records listed here as “Society Islands” are probably all from Tahiti, the only record elsewhere within the group being a single collection from Raiatea (cf., var. raiateense).

This species was observed at a total of 40 stations in Tahiti, all in the northwestern quarter of Tahitinui (districts of Pare, Arue, Mahina, and Papenoo) except for a single station on the ridge between Papenoo and Mataiea. It was found from an altitude of 500 m (1660 ft) to the very summit of Mt. Aorai, 2064 m (6770 ft), the highest point that Grant reached on the island. At the lower elevations it is a very low shrub (about 0.5 to 1 m tall) scattered in the Gleichenia formation. On these dry slopes, its abundance is favored by the small fires set by the native goat-hunters, as it reproduces by root-shoots. At the lower edge of the forest on these slopes, and again in the cloud forests of the upper crests, it may be a dominant species in the vegetation, but in between it usually appears as one of the larger shrubs in the low forests. Its most common dominant associates at these 40 stations were, in order of abundance, Weinmannia parviflora, Metrosideros collina, Gleichenia linearis, Ilex taitensis, Styphelia pomarae, Fagraea berteriana, and Santalum insulare.

ETHNOBOTANY.—English: blueberry. Tahitian: opu-opu (recorded by Guillemin (1837) as obu-obu). No native name is given by Cheeseman (1903:286), but Wilder (1931:85) states that it is called poroporo in Rarotonga, probably on account of the similarity to species of Solanum and Capsicum, to which the name poro (ball) is applied in various combinations, poroporo being the diminutive. I was told in Tahiti that the Rarotongan name is hopuhopu; however, that name in Tahitian refers to Centipeda minima. In the Marquesas it is called heua (Jardin, 1862:24), toa-toa (Decaisne, 1864:23), or, according to F. B. H. Brown (1935:216) hueki in Nukuhiva and puatoatoa in Fatuhiva.

The fruit is edible, but is not used much by the natives. In fact, Grant was told by some that it was poisonous!