Burke: Vaccinium cespitosum vs. Vaccinium ovalifolium

	Vaccinium cespitosum	Vaccinium ovalifolium
	dwarf bilberry, dwarf huckleberry	Alaska blueberry, oval-leaf blueberry
Habit	Deciduous shrubs spreading widely by rhizomes and forming mats 1.5-3 dm. tall, the twigs somewhat angled, with yellowish-green to reddish bark, usually finely puberulent.	Spreading deciduous shrub 4-10 dm. tall, flowering before the leaves have reached half their mature size; twigs yellowish-green strongly angled, glabrous, the old branches grayish.
Leaves	Leaves alternate, oblanceolate, 1-3 cm. long and + to as broad, with a wedge-shaped base, light green and glabrous above, paler and glandular below, serrulate from mid-length to the tips.	Leaves alternate, ovate-elliptic, 2-4 cm. long, glabrous, glaucous on the lower surface, entire.
Flowers	Flowers single in the axils, whitish to pink, 6-7 mm. long; calyx obscurely 5-lobed; corolla united, narrowly urn-shaped, twice as long as wide, the 5 lobes very short; anthers with dorsal awns and apical, pore-bearing tubes; ovary inferior.	Flowers single in the axils, about 7 mm. long; pedicels 1-5 mm. long, strongly recurved in fruit, not enlarged immediately under the berry; corolla entire, pinkish, narrowly urn-shaped, longer than broad, broadest just below mid-length; anthers with dorsal awns and terminal pore-bearing tubes; ovary inferior.
Fruits	Fruit a berry, glaucous-blue, globose, 5-8 mm. broad.	Fruit a berry, purplish-black to bluish-black, 6-9 mm. long.

	Vaccinium cespitosum	Vaccinium ovalifolium
Flowering time	May-July	May-July
Habitat	Moist rocky ridges and meadows, mid- to high elevations in the mountains.	Coniferous forests and open slopes from low elevations to the subalpine.
Distribution	Widely distributed in the mountainous areas of Washington; Alaska to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Plains, Great Lakes region, and northeastern North America. [WildflowerSearch map]	Occurring in forested and mountainous areas on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to Oregon, east to Alberta and Idaho, in the Great Lakes region, and eastern Canada; eastern Asia. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	V. corymbosum, V. deliciosum, V. macrocarpon, V. membranaceum, V. myrtilloides, V. myrtillus, V. ovalifolium, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. uliginosum	V. cespitosum, V. corymbosum, V. deliciosum, V. macrocarpon, V. membranaceum, V. myrtilloides, V. myrtillus, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. uliginosum
Web links	Local floras: CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Vaccinium ovalifolium

dwarf bilberry, dwarf huckleberry

Alaska blueberry, oval-leaf blueberry

Habit

Deciduous shrubs spreading widely by rhizomes and forming mats 1.5-3 dm. tall, the twigs somewhat angled, with yellowish-green to reddish bark, usually finely puberulent.

Spreading deciduous shrub 4-10 dm. tall, flowering before the leaves have reached half their mature size; twigs yellowish-green strongly angled, glabrous, the old branches grayish.

Leaves

Leaves alternate, oblanceolate, 1-3 cm. long and + to as broad, with a wedge-shaped base, light green and glabrous above, paler and glandular below, serrulate from mid-length to the tips.

Leaves alternate, ovate-elliptic, 2-4 cm. long, glabrous, glaucous on the lower surface, entire.

Flowers

Flowers single in the axils, whitish to pink, 6-7 mm. long;

calyx obscurely 5-lobed;

corolla united, narrowly urn-shaped, twice as long as wide, the 5 lobes very short;

anthers with dorsal awns and apical, pore-bearing tubes;

ovary inferior.

Flowers single in the axils, about 7 mm. long;

pedicels 1-5 mm. long, strongly recurved in fruit, not enlarged immediately under the berry;

corolla entire, pinkish, narrowly urn-shaped, longer than broad, broadest just below mid-length;

anthers with dorsal awns and terminal pore-bearing tubes;

ovary inferior.

Fruits

Fruit a berry, glaucous-blue, globose, 5-8 mm. broad.

Fruit a berry, purplish-black to bluish-black, 6-9 mm. long.

Vaccinium ovalifolium

Flowering time

May-July

Habitat

Moist rocky ridges and meadows, mid- to high elevations in the mountains.

Coniferous forests and open slopes from low elevations to the subalpine.

Distribution

Widely distributed in the mountainous areas of Washington; Alaska to California, east to the Rocky Mountains, northern Great Plains, Great Lakes region, and northeastern North America.

[WildflowerSearch map]

Occurring in forested and mountainous areas on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to Oregon, east to Alberta and Idaho, in the Great Lakes region, and eastern Canada; eastern Asia.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Native

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa