Flora of North America species comparison

erect, spreading, or creeping, glabrous or hairy.

erect, arching, spreading, creeping, or procumbent.

persistent or deciduous;

petiole absent or present;

blade elliptic or ovate to oblong-lanceolate or spatulate, membranous to coriaceous, margins entire or serrate, plane or, sometimes, revolute, surfaces glabrous or hairy;

venation brochidodromous.

deciduous or persistent, alternate, sometimes pseudoverticillate (Pieris);

petiole usually present, sometimes absent (some species of Vaccinium);

blade plane, abaxial groove absent.

axillary or terminal, racemes, usually 2–10-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary, (leafy); (bracteoles absent, present in sect. Oxycoccos).

usually axillary, sometimes terminal, usually panicles or racemes, sometimes corymbs or fascicles, sometimes solitary flowers, (borne on leafy twigs, except Zenobia on leafless twigs);

perulae absent;

bracts much shorter than sepals (sometimes absent).

sepals 4–5, connate basally;

petals 4–5(–6), connate nearly their entire lengths, sometimes distinct or nearly so, white or cream to pink, bronze, or green, rarely red, corolla globose, cylindric, urceolate, or campanulate, lobes shorter to longer than tube;

filaments straight, flat, glabrous or hairy, without spurs;

stamens 8–10, included (sometimes exserted);

anthers with or without awns, dehiscent by pores (pores laciniate in sect. Polycodium);

pistil 4–5-carpellate;

ovary inferior, 4–5-locular or pseudo 10-locular;

stigma capitate.

pendulous;

perianth and androecium hypogynous or epigynous (Gaylussacia, Vaccinium);

sepals (4-)5[-8];

petals 4-5(-6), connate (rarely distinct or nearly so in some species of Vaccinium), corolla deciduous, campanulate, cylindric, or urceolate, lobes usually much shorter (sometimes longer) than tube;

intrastaminal nectary disc absent or present;

stamens 8-10[-16];

anthers dehiscent by terminal pores or short slits;

ovary 5- or 10-locular;

placentation axile;

style straight.

baccate, ovoid to globose, fleshy.

capsular, dehiscence loculicidal, or baccate or drupaceous, indehiscent.

2–40, ellipsoid;

testa reticulate.

2-300, distinct, ovoid or obovoid to ellipsoid, lanceoloid, or conic, to angular or wedge- or crescent-shaped, usually not winged, sometimes slightly winged or tailed.

= 12.