Vaccinium oldhamii ("Natsuhaze")

Japanese name: ナツハゼ （夏櫨）
Scientific name: Vaccinium oldhamii

[Overview]
A deciduous shrub 1.5–3 m tall, found at forest edges.
Young branches bear soft hairs and glandular hairs.
The leaves are simple and alternate, elliptic, 4–10 cm long and 2–5 cm wide, with sparse coarse hairs on both surfaces.
The leaf margin has no serrations but bears many glandular hairs, and the scars left where the glandular hairs have fallen look like serrations.
The petiole is 1–2 mm long and densely covered with coarse hairs.
A raceme 3–4 cm long at the tip of a young branch bears many downward-facing flowers.
The flowers are reddish yellow-green and bell-shaped, shallowly 5-lobed.
There are 10 stamens.
The pedicel is 1–3 mm long, and the calyx tube bears sparse glandular hairs.
The fruit is spherical, 7–8 mm in diameter, and ripens black.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
Cuttings are also possible, although the rooting rate is poor.
For seed, wash fully ripe fruit to remove the pulp and sow immediately, or bury the seeds in moistened vermiculite or similar so they do not dry out and store them in a cool, dark place; take them out the following spring and wash them thoroughly once more before sowing.
Plant it in a place with good drainage and water retention, in sun to partial shade without afternoon sun.
It prefers acidic soil.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient.
Apply organic fertilizer in winter, and after flowering place slow-release chemical fertilizer on the soil as a thank-you fertilizer.
There are no particular pests or diseases.

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