A deciduous shrub from 1 to 5 ft high, erect-growing; branchlets angular, glabrous. Leaves ovate to oblong, pointed, rounded or tapered at the base, minutely toothed, 3⁄4 to 21⁄2 in. long, 1⁄3 to 1 in. wide, bright green and glabrous on both surfaces; stalk 1⁄16 in. or less long. Flowers solitary in the leaf-axils on stalks 1⁄4 to 1⁄3 in. long. Corolla between globose and urn-shaped, 1⁄4 in. across, greenish or pinkish white; calyx entire. Berries 1⁄4 to 1⁄3 in. in diameter, purplish black, sweet, but rather acid. Bot. Mag., t. 3447.
Native of N. America from the region of the Great Lakes westward to British Columbia, south to northern California; discovered by Douglas about 1828. It belongs to the same group as V. myrtillus and V. uliginosum. Of little garden value.