GAYLUSSACIA NANA (A. Gray) Gaylussacia frondosa var. nana A. Gray, Syn. Fl. N. A. Ed. 2. 2: Pt. 1, 396. 1886.
A low glaucous shrub 1-4 dm. tall, spreading by underground stems. Leaves leathery, the blades elliptic, obovate or nearly spatulate, 2-3 cm. long, obtuse or minutely apiculate at the apex, glaucous on both sides, becoming bright green above, prominently rugose and sprinkled with amber-colored resin beneath, short petioled ; racemes few-flowered ; pedicels slender, puberulent when young ; calyx glabrous, 3 mm. broad, the segments triangular, acute, about as long as the tube; corolla globose-campanulate, 3 mm. long, the segments ovate, acutish, longer than broad ; fila
ments short, glabrous ; anthers longer than the filaments, pro longed into slender tubes ; drupes subglobose, 6-7 mm. in diameter, rather dry, glaucous.
In sandy pine barrens, Georgia to Florida and Alabama. March to April ; matures its fruit in the summer.
Easily distinguished from Gaylussacia frondosa, with which it has been associated, by its very glaucous foliage and strongly rugose and much smaller leaves, besides its peculiar underground stems.