Burke: Vaccinium uliginosum vs. Vaccinium deliciosum

	Vaccinium uliginosum	Vaccinium deliciosum
	bog bilberry, bog blueberry	Cascade blueberry, Rainier blueberry, blueleaf huckleberry
Habit	Deciduous, branching shrub, the stems 2-6 dm. tall, not angled, the young bark yellowish-green, becoming reddish-gray with age.	Deciduous, low, often matted shrub 1.5-4 dm. tall, the branches slightly angled, greenish-brown, glabrous.
Leaves	Leaves alternate, entire, oblanceolate 1-3 cm. long, glabrous or finely puberulent.	Leaves alternate, obovate to obovate-oblanceolate, 1.5-5 cm. long and 1/3-1/2 as broad, rounded to obtuse, the base wedge-shaped, pale bluish-green, glaucous but not glandular on the lower surface, the margins serrulate on the upper half or less.
Flowers	Flowers 1-4 in the leaf axils, pink, 5-6 mm. long, the sepals deltoid, persistent, the corolla broadly urn-shaped; anthers with awns and terminal pore-bearing tubes; ovary inferior.	Flowers single in the axils, pinkish, 6-7 mm. long; calyx obscurely 5-lobed; corolla united, broadly urn-shaped, much less than twice as long as broad, the 5 lobes very short, reflexed; anthers with dorsal awns and apical, pore-bearing tubes; ovary inferior.
Fruits	Fruit a blue berry, glaucous, 5-7 mm. broad.	Fruit a berry, glaucous-blue, globose, 5-8 mm. broad.

	Vaccinium uliginosum	Vaccinium deliciosum
Flowering time	June-August	May-July
Habitat	Bogs and fens from low elevation to subalpine.	Forest openings and mountain meadows, mid- to high elevations.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Montana, east across northern North America to the Atlantic. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Idaho. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Native	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	V. cespitosum, V. corymbosum, V. deliciosum, V. macrocarpon, V. membranaceum, V. myrtilloides, V. myrtillus, V. ovalifolium, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium	V. cespitosum, V. corymbosum, V. macrocarpon, V. membranaceum, V. myrtilloides, V. myrtillus, V. ovalifolium, 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	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Vaccinium deliciosum

bog bilberry, bog blueberry

Cascade blueberry, Rainier blueberry, blueleaf huckleberry

Habit

Deciduous, branching shrub, the stems 2-6 dm. tall, not angled, the young bark yellowish-green, becoming reddish-gray with age.

Deciduous, low, often matted shrub 1.5-4 dm. tall, the branches slightly angled, greenish-brown, glabrous.

Leaves

Leaves alternate, entire, oblanceolate 1-3 cm. long, glabrous or finely puberulent.

Leaves alternate, obovate to obovate-oblanceolate, 1.5-5 cm. long and 1/3-1/2 as broad, rounded to obtuse, the base wedge-shaped, pale bluish-green, glaucous but not glandular on the lower surface, the margins serrulate on the upper half or less.

Flowers

Flowers 1-4 in the leaf axils, pink, 5-6 mm. long, the sepals deltoid, persistent, the corolla broadly urn-shaped;

anthers with awns and terminal pore-bearing tubes;

ovary inferior.

Flowers single in the axils, pinkish, 6-7 mm. long;

calyx obscurely 5-lobed;

corolla united, broadly urn-shaped, much less than twice as long as broad, the 5 lobes very short, reflexed;

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

ovary inferior.

Fruits

Fruit a blue berry, glaucous, 5-7 mm. broad.

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

Vaccinium uliginosum

Vaccinium deliciosum

Flowering time

June-August

May-July

Habitat

Bogs and fens from low elevation to subalpine.

Forest openings and mountain meadows, mid- to high elevations.

Distribution

Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and Montana, east across northern North America to the Atlantic.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]