low-bushadj.
/ˈləʊbʊʃ/, U.S. /ˈloʊˈbʊʃ/ Chiefly North American.
Of a shrub or tree: growing close to the ground; not very high; esp. designating such a plant bearing edible berries (see also Compounds); characteristic of plants of this kind.
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1824 S. Elliott Bot. South-Carolina & Georgia II. 615 The low-bush Chinquapin grows in sandy pine barrens.
1871 U.S. Patent 115,100 1/1 The following is a list of the articles which I have discovered to possess valuable properties..: The stems, roots, and leaves of low-bush dewberry [etc.].
1920 Collier's 24 Jan. 79/2 They're the low-bush sort that has to be picked soon's they ripen or the hogs gits 'em.
1950 W. O. Douglas Of Men & Mountains xx. 280 The open slopes..are rich with the low-bush huckleberry in the summer.
1999 L. Reich Pruning Bk. 147/1 They [sc. blueberries] are all bushy, with lowbush plants growing only about 1 ft. high.
2003 N.Y. Mag. 30 June 70/2 You'll know you're at a lowbush farm because lowbush berries aren't picked but harvested with rakes.
Compounds
low-bush blackberry n. any of several shrubs of the genus Rubus bearing edible dark purple or black fruit, esp. R. trivialis of the south-eastern United States; (also) the fruit of any of these plants (cf. blackberry n. 1a).
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1840 J. Torrey & A. Gray Flora N. Amer. I. iii. 456 R. trivialis..ripens its fruit in May, and is called Low Bush-Blackberry.
1901 A. Lounsberry Southern Wild Flowers & Trees 238 Southern dewberry, low bush blackberry, has an intensely prickly stem with interspersed bristles which give to it a purplish hue.
2000 P. Unwin Nine Bells for Man 148 Fried black bass with new potatoes, green beans, and low-bush blackberries.
low-bush blueberry n. any of several low-growing varieties of the blueberry Vaccinium angustifolium, a spreading shrub native to the northeastern United States and Canada; (also) the small dark purple fruit of any of these plants.
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1867 T. F. De Voe Market Assistant 393 The common low-bush blueberry or huckleberry, is commonly known among the Jersey pickers or gatherers as the ‘cracker-berry’.
1958 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. 26 July 39/6 Housewives pick high and low bush blueberries..and in the fall, low bush cranberries.
1962 Nashua (New Hampsh.) Tel. 14 July 7/8 Fresh plump native low bush blueberries are splashing summer meals with color and flavor.
2003 Nat. New Eng. Summer 25/1 Pitch pine, scrub oak, and low-bush blueberry—all common pine barrens denizens—are equipped for survival.
low-bush cranberry n. chiefly Canadian any of several low-growing North American shrubs bearing small red edible berries; esp. the viburnum, Viburnum edule, and the cowberry, Vaccinium vitis-idaea; (also) the fruit of any of these plants.
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1833 C. P. Traill Let. 18 Apr. in Backwoods of Canada (1836) 144 The low-bush cranberries are brought in great quantities by the Indians to the towns and villages.
1889 Garden & Forest 23 Oct. 508/1 The fishermen's families gather this fruit [sc. cowberries] in large quantities for their own use or for sale, calling it the ‘Low bush Cranberry’.
1962 M. E. Murie Two in Far North i. i. 15 Sometimes had time to pick a handful of bright red low-bush cranberries.
2006 Alaska Mag. Sept. 14/3 Some berries sampled from the Interior, like the lingonberry or lowbush cranberry, provided eye-popping results.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1824