Burke: Vaccinium uliginosum vs. Vaccinium ovalifolium

	Vaccinium uliginosum	Vaccinium ovalifolium
	bog bilberry, bog blueberry	Alaska blueberry, oval-leaf blueberry
Habit	Deciduous, branching shrub, the stems 2-6 dm. tall, not angled, the young bark yellowish-green, becoming reddish-gray with age.	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, entire, oblanceolate 1-3 cm. long, glabrous or finely puberulent.	Leaves alternate, ovate-elliptic, 2-4 cm. long, glabrous, glaucous on the lower surface, entire.
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, 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 blue berry, glaucous, 5-7 mm. broad.	Fruit a berry, purplish-black to bluish-black, 6-9 mm. long.

	Vaccinium uliginosum	Vaccinium ovalifolium
Flowering time	June-August	May-July
Habitat	Bogs and fens from low elevation to subalpine.	Coniferous forests and open slopes from low elevations to the subalpine.
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 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. 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. 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	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

bog bilberry, bog blueberry

Alaska blueberry, oval-leaf blueberry

Habit

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

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

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

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

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

Vaccinium ovalifolium

Flowering time

June-August

May-July

Habitat

Bogs and fens from low elevation to subalpine.

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

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 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