Burke: Vaccinium uliginosum vs. Vaccinium scoparium

	Vaccinium uliginosum	Vaccinium scoparium
	bog bilberry, bog blueberry	grouseberry
Habit	Deciduous, branching shrub, the stems 2-6 dm. tall, not angled, the young bark yellowish-green, becoming reddish-gray with age.	Deciduous shrub, more or less matted, 1-2.5 dm. tall, the branches numerous, slender, broom-like, strongly angled, greenish or yellowish-green, usually glabrous.
Leaves	Leaves alternate, entire, oblanceolate 1-3 cm. long, glabrous or finely puberulent.	Leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 8-15 mm. long, finely serrulate, light green, usually glabrous, conspicuously veiny on the lower surface.
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, pinkish, broadly urn-shaped, about 4 mm. long; anthers with awns and terminal pore-bearing tubes; ovary inferior.
Fruits	Fruit a blue berry, glaucous, 5-7 mm. broad.	Fruit a bright red berry, globose, 3-5 mm. broad.

	Vaccinium uliginosum	Vaccinium scoparium
Flowering time	June-August	May-August
Habitat	Bogs and fens from low elevation to subalpine.	Open, dry forests, mid- to high 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 on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains and northern Great Plains. [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. parvifolium, 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 scoparium

bog bilberry, bog blueberry

grouseberry

Habit

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

Deciduous shrub, more or less matted, 1-2.5 dm. tall, the branches numerous, slender, broom-like, strongly angled, greenish or yellowish-green, usually glabrous.

Leaves

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

Leaves lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 8-15 mm. long, finely serrulate, light green, usually glabrous, conspicuously veiny on the lower surface.

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, pinkish, broadly urn-shaped, about 4 mm. long;

anthers with awns and terminal pore-bearing tubes;

ovary inferior.

Fruits

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

Fruit a bright red berry, globose, 3-5 mm. broad.

Vaccinium uliginosum

Vaccinium scoparium

Flowering time

June-August

May-August

Habitat

Bogs and fens from low elevation to subalpine.

Open, dry forests, mid- to high 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]