Description
Vaccinium arboreum is a shrub (rarely a small tree) growing to 3–5 m (rarely 9 m) tall. The leaves are evergreen in the south of the range, but deciduous further 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. Sparkleberry grows on sand dunes, hammocks, dry hillsides, meadows, and in rocky woods. It also grows on a variety of moist sites such as wet bottomlands and along creek banks.
The flowers are white, bell-shaped, and 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 in diameter, green at first, black when ripe, edible but bitter and tough.
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