Burke: Vaccinium uliginosum vs. Vaccinium parvifolium

	Vaccinium uliginosum	Vaccinium parvifolium
	bog bilberry, bog blueberry	red huckleberry
Habit	Deciduous, branching shrub, the stems 2-6 dm. tall, not angled, the young bark yellowish-green, becoming reddish-gray with age.	Erect shrub 1-4 m. tall, the branches green, very prominently angled, usually glabrous.
Leaves	Leaves alternate, entire, oblanceolate 1-3 cm. long, glabrous or finely puberulent.	Leaves tardily deciduous, often a few persistent, thin, oval to oblong-elliptic, rounded, 1-2.5 cm. long, usually glabrous and 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 solitary in the axils of the lowest leaves of the youngest shoots, short-petiolate; corolla entire, pale, waxy, yellowish-pink, broadly urn-shaped, about 4 mm. long; anthers with prominent, spreading-erect awns and short, apical pore-bearing tubes; ovary inferior.
Fruits	Fruit a blue berry, glaucous, 5-7 mm. broad.	Fruit a bright red berry, globose, 6-9 mm. broad.

	Vaccinium uliginosum	Vaccinium parvifolium
Flowering time	June-August	April-June
Habitat	Bogs and fens from low elevation to subalpine.	Moist woods, forest edges and openings, from sea level to middle elevations in the mountains.
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 chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California. [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. ovalifolium, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, 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 uliginosum

Vaccinium parvifolium

bog bilberry, bog blueberry

red huckleberry

Habit

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

Erect shrub 1-4 m. tall, the branches green, very prominently angled, usually glabrous.

Leaves

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

Leaves tardily deciduous, often a few persistent, thin, oval to oblong-elliptic, rounded, 1-2.5 cm. long, usually glabrous and 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 solitary in the axils of the lowest leaves of the youngest shoots, short-petiolate;

corolla entire, pale, waxy, yellowish-pink, broadly urn-shaped, about 4 mm. long;

anthers with prominent, spreading-erect awns and short, apical pore-bearing tubes;

ovary inferior.

Fruits

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

Fruit a bright red berry, globose, 6-9 mm. broad.

Vaccinium uliginosum

Vaccinium parvifolium

Flowering time

June-August

April-June

Habitat

Bogs and fens from low elevation to subalpine.

Moist woods, forest edges and openings, from sea level to middle elevations in the mountains.

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]