Vaccinium corymbosum
highbush blueberry

Vaccinium stamineum
deerberry

Vaccinium is a large genus, comprising some 450 species worldwide, of which about 40 can be found in North America. You might know them by the common names blueberry, bilberry, deerberry, lingonberry, huckleberry, cranberry… Some of the species can be rather difficult to distinguish unless you examine the fruit, and good luck with that, because just about every mammal feeds on them (including me if I ever get to them first).

The rocky areas near Carderock are covered in these two unassuming little shrubs, which along with V. pallidum are the only Vaccinium species found in the Maryland Piedmont (according to the Maryland Biodiversity Project.)  Like most other plants in the Ericaceae (heather family), they like well-drained acidic soils and a good amount of shade.

Staphylea trifolia
Staphyleaceae

As with fringtree (May 13), I don’t have any pictures of an entire specimen, because I’ve never seen one that wasn’t crowded in among other trees and shrubs.  Whereas you’re likely to find fringetree on bluffs, you’ll find bladdernut right along the river.  It, too, is an understory tree, but one that prefers a bit more light and a lot more water.

Bladdernut is more of a Mid-Atlantic and Midwest tree, fairly common throughout its range.  It’s small, usually standing about 12 feet tall or less, and unremarkable except for the lovely flowers.  And interesting seed-pods.