Sargent, Charles S. 1889. Vaccinium hirsutum. Gard. & Forest. 2: 364, 365, fig. 119.
Ericaceae
Species Description - Plants with several stems, but if disturbed,, suckering to form a dense colony sometimes 1 m. in diameter at the base, 2-4(5) m. high. Leaves deciduous, glaucous; the lower surface non-glandular and typically glabrous; broadly elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, occasionally apically acuminate, 2.5-4 cm. wide, 5-8 cm. long; the margin entire. Corolla cylindraceous, 8-11 mm. long, clear white, or sometimes pink-tinged. Fruit blue, 7-12 mm. in diam., usually of excellent flavor.
Tetraploid (2n 48).
After describing V. australe, Small veered away from the species as represented by the type collection and finally (Man. SE. Fl. 1933) placed the name in synonymy under V. virgatum. The valleys of certain rivers in Georgia, such as the Altamaha and Satilla, are notable for having local populations built up from the tetraploid segregates of australe x virgatum. And it was such a population which Small encountered along the Altamaha River during his visit there June 18-21, 1895, and accounts for his original description and subsequent treatments. There may be some question about the validity of changing Small's concept but, by a stroke of fortune, the particular collection he selected for the type happens not to be from the plants of the hybrid complex, but from what gives evidence of being essentially pure V. australe' as defined here. In this instance, it is held that the type collection governs the application of name and that the original description, which is ambiguous and includes elements of at least two species, may be ignored. Had Small visited certain areas in the Satilla River Valley, he would likely have been considerably perplexed by the somewhat similar-appearing- but much taller-population superposed on what he called "V. australe"; this is the "australoid" segment of the hexaploid V. ashei.
V. australe appears to be the autopolyploid derivative of V. ca1esariense (fig. 23). Being tetraploid, it has hybridized freely with other tetraploids whose ranges it touches, such as V. virgatum, V. myrsinites, and to a limited extent in northern Florida and southeastern Alabama, 'V. arkansanum. In areas along the eastern coastal plain, V. australe occasionally loses its well-marked characters, acquiring a slight pubescence and also having less & glaucous fruit; this appears to be the result of hybridization with a plant which is here recognized as V. marianum, to be discussed later. In restricted areas southward, especially in the backwater coastal swamps of South Carolina and Georgia, the flowers of V. australe may lose their spectacularly white color and become pale or even deep pink. Correlated with this aberrancy (especially in southern Georgia) the leaves often become subeoriaceous, subpersistent, and somewhat pubescent. Thus, continuing southward, in certain local areas V. australe passes from its typical phase into the red-flowered, evergreen, and pubescent V. fuscatum of Florida. The role which V. australe has played in the development of V. corymbosum will be discussed under that species.
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