Yet another member of the blueberry family. If you are wondering why there are so many plants from this family at my field site (and I'm sure that you're just dying to know), it's because the soil is nutrient-poor. Like most of Florida, Goethe is mostly sand. It has low nitrogen and phosphorus levels, which are essential elements for plant growth and function.
Underground fungi, called mycorrhizae, are common in low-nutrient sites like these because they increase the amount of phosphorus absorption many-fold while the associated plants (physically connected by roots) provide carbohydrates to the fungi. Often times, the associated plants are ericads.
So there you go, nutrient-poor site, lots of soil fungi, lots of ericads, like blue huckleberry.
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