Plantae>Magnoliophyta>Magnoliopsida>Ericales>Ericaceae>Vaccinium arboreum Marsh.
| Sparkleberry, or Farkleberry, is an uncommon large shrub or small tree of woodland edges. It's the largest of our blueberries, though Black Highbush Blueberry (V. fuscatum) can get almost as big. The small, thick, lustrous, smooth, mostly-evergreen leaves with tiny red buds make sparkleberry easy to ID. |
| Small bell-shaped flowers appear in mid-May, followed by small black berries in fall. |
| The bark breaks up into peeling flakes. |
| The bark of a larger tree. Wake Co., NC 6/4/05. |
| The bark of some larger specimens can be nearly smooth. |
More information:
NC State
Trees of Alabama and the Southeast
Virginia Tech Dendrology
Revised 10/18/05 cwcook@duke.edu
All photographs and text ©2005 by Will Cook unless otherwise indicated.