Burke: Vaccinium ovalifolium

	Vaccinium ovalifolium
	Alaska blueberry, oval-leaf blueberry
Habit	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, ovate-elliptic, 2-4 cm. long, glabrous, glaucous on the lower surface, entire.
Flowers	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, purplish-black to bluish-black, 6-9 mm. long.

	Vaccinium ovalifolium
Flowering time	May-July
Habitat	Coniferous forests and open slopes from low elevations to the subalpine.
Distribution	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	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: 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

Alaska blueberry, oval-leaf blueberry

Habit

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

Flowers

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, purplish-black to bluish-black, 6-9 mm. long.

Vaccinium ovalifolium

Flowering time

May-July

Habitat

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

Distribution

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