Vaccinium
Vaccinium oxycoccos
bilberry, blueberry, cranberry, huckleberry
bog cranberry, canneberge commune, small cranberry, swamp cranberry, wild cranberry
erect, spreading, or creeping, glabrous or hairy.
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.
blades glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, ovate, sometimes elliptic, 3–10 × 1–5 mm, coriaceous, margins entire, strongly revolute.
axillary or terminal, racemes, usually 2–10-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary, (leafy); (bracteoles absent, present in sect. Oxycoccos).
in axils of leaflike bracts at base of previous year’s or older shoots, (leafy portion often failing to elongate).
nodding, slender, 2–3 cm, bracteolate or not;
bracteoles 1–5, reddish, scalelike, to 1 mm wide.
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.
calyx lobes relatively small;
corolla strongly reflexed at anthesis, white to deep pink;
filaments hairy;
anther tubules 2–2.5 mm.
baccate, ovoid to globose, fleshy.
deep red, red-spotted at first, 6–12 mm diam., smooth.
2–40, ellipsoid;
testa reticulate.
= 12.
= 24, 48, 72.
Vaccinium
Vaccinium oxycoccos
Species ca. 500 (25 in the flora).
The North American species of Vaccinium are distributed among ten sections. Some of these (e.g., Oxycoccus, Polycodium) have been treated as genera by recent authors, although only Oxycoccus has been recognized at genus rank widely among North American authors. Molecular data support the idea that Vaccinium is a natural genus, albeit large and diverse, provided that Oxycoccus is included.
In eastern North America, the name huckleberry is applied to species of Gaylussacia, while in western North America some species of Vaccinium are called huckleberries. Most, if not all, species of Vaccinium are edible, finding wide acceptance as fresh fruits, and for pies, preserves, etc. Some have medicinal value, especially V. macrocarpon for urinary problems. Further uses and references are noted with the individual species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Vaccinium oxycoccos is interruptedly circumboreal (absent from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, including Baffin Island) extending southward in North America to California in the Cascade Range and to West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains.
In Europe, some chromosome races of Vaccinium oxycoccos have been given specific rank (S. P. Vander Kloet 1983) at one time or another; unfortunately, hexaploids cannot be differentiated consistently from diploids or tetraploids using morphological features such as leaf indumentum or bract size.
On most vines, especially north of 50° north latitude, the leafy portion of the fertile shoot fails to develop, giving the illusion that Vaccinium oxycoccos has an inflorescence comprising a short rachis bearing flowers on a slender pedicel.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Inflorescences in axils of leaves or bracts of shoots of current season (or older shoots) | → 2 |
1. Inflorescences on previous year’s shoots or on older woody stems (sometimes on new growth as well) | → 10 |
2. Berries 4-locular; corollas deeply 4-lobed | → 3 |
2. Berries 5-locular; corollas globose to urceolate, shallowly or scarcely lobed [45c. sect. Myrtillus] | → 4 |
3. Plants erect shrubs [45a. sect. Oxycoccoides]. | V. erythrocarpum |
3. Plants usually trailing vines, ascending [45c. sect. Oxycoccus (in part)]. | V. macrocarpon |
4. Berries red or bluish purple and translucent; twigs angled, green | → 5 |
4. Berries deep purple, purplish black, black, or blue (rarely bluish black, maroon, reddish, or red); twigs usually ± terete, sometimes angled, yellow-green, green, reddish green, reddish brown, or golden brown | → 6 |
5. Shrubs colonial, 0.7-2 dm; berries 4-6 mm diam. | V. scoparium |
5. Shrubs crown-forming, 10-70 dm; berries 7-10 mm diam. | V. parvifolium |
6. Leaf blades with margins sharply serrate, surfaces glandular abaxially | → 7 |
6. Leaf blades with portions of margins ± entire, surfaces sometimes eglandular abaxially or, rarely, glandular throughout | → 8 |
7. Twigs green, angled. | V. myrtillus |
7. Twigs yellow-green or reddish green, terete to slightly angled. | V. membranaceum |
8. Shrubs 3-40 dm, clumped. | V. ovalifolium |
8. Shrubs 0.3-15 dm, forming small clumps to extensive colonies | → 9 |
9. Twigs green (sometimes glaucous), usually glabrous, rarely hairy. | V. deliciosum |
9. Twigs yellow-green, reddish green, or reddish brown, finely puberulent or, rarely, glabrous. | V. cespitosum |
10. Twigs not verrucose | → 11 |
10. Twigs verrucose [45i. sect. Cyanococcus] | → 17 |
11. Leaves usually deciduous | → 12 |
11. Leaves persistent | → 14 |
12. Racemes 2-4-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary, ebracteate; corollas urceolate; berries blue [45b. sect. Vaccinium]. | V. uliginosum |
12. Racemes 5-17-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary, bracteate; corollas campanulate to urceolate; berries green, yellow-green, yellow, purple, or black | → 13 |
13. Corollas campanulate; pedicels continuous with calyx tubes [45e. sect. Polycodium]. | V. stamineum |
13. Corollas campanulate to urceolate; pedicels articulated with calyx tubes [45g. sect. Batodendron]. | V. arboreum |
14. Plants usually trailing, sometimes ascending vines | → 15 |
14. Plants subshrubs or shrubs | → 16 |
15. Berries deep red, 4-locular; pedicels 2-3 cm [45c. sect. Oxycoccus (in part)]. | V. oxycoccos |
15. Berries black, 5-locular; pedicels 0.1-0.3 cm [45h. sect. Herpothamnus]. | V. crassifolium |
16. Plants rhizomatous, 0.1-3.5 dm; berries red, 4-locular [45d. sect. Vitis-idaea]. | V. vitis-idaea |
16. Plants clump- or crown-forming, (3-)4-12(-40) dm; berries black or blue, 5-locular [45j. sect. Pyxothamnus]. | V. ovatum |
17. Shrubs 10-50 dm; leaf blades 15-70 mm. | V. corymbosum |
17. Shrubs 0.1-15 dm; leaf blades 5-62 mm | → 18 |
18. Leaves persistent for 1+ years | → 19 |
18. Leaves usually deciduous, rarely persistent | → 20 |
19. Leaf blades glandular abaxially; twigs bright green; berries black. | V. myrsinites |
19. Leaf blades glabrous abaxially; twigs pale green (glaucous); berries blue. | V. darrowii |
20. Leaf blades glandular abaxially. | V. tenellum |
20. Leaf blades eglandular abaxially | → 21 |
21. Leaf blade margins sharply and uniformly serrate | → 22 |
21. Leaf blade margins entire | → 23 |
22. Shrubs 0.1-0.9 dm; leaf blades 2-6 mm wide. | V. boreale |
22. Shrubs 1-3 dm; leaf blades (5-)6-16(-20) mm wide. | V. angustifolium |
23. Leaf blades pale green or glaucous abaxially, surfaces usually glabrous; twigs hairy in lines or glabrous. | V. pallidum |
23. Leaf blades green abaxially, surfaces densely hairy; twigs pilose or hairy | → 24 |
24. Corollas and calyces glandular. | V. hirsutum |
24. Corollas and calyces eglandular. | V. myrtilloides |
CA- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
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
