Vaccinium
Vaccinium uliginosum
bilberry, blueberry, cranberry, huckleberry
airelle des marécages, alpine blueberry, blueberry, bog bilberry, bog blueberry
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 usually glaucous abaxially, green to glaucous adaxially, orbiculate, ovate, or obovate to narrowly elliptic, 8–14 × 3–7 mm, membranous, margins entire, surfaces often faintly puberulent, sometimes hairy throughout.
axillary or terminal, racemes, usually 2–10-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary, (leafy); (bracteoles absent, present in sect. Oxycoccos).
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.
sepals usually distinct;
corolla white to pink, 3–4(–5) mm, lobes 0.3–0.4 mm;
filaments glabrous.
baccate, ovoid to globose, fleshy.
blue, 6–8 mm diam., glaucous.
2–40, ellipsoid;
testa reticulate.
= 12.
= 24, 48, 72.
Vaccinium
Vaccinium uliginosum
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 uliginosum is transcontinental in North America between 60° and 70° north latitude; farther north it is rare, especially in the Queen Elizabeth Islands. To the southwest, it is found as far as northern California and northwestern Utah. The summits of the White Mountains of New Hampshire form its southernmost limit in eastern North America. This wide-ranging plant shows considerable variation, notably in floral morphology. Subspecies have been recognized (cf. S. B. Young 1970); a review of morphological variation by H. J. Warr (1981) did not support the distinctiveness of infraspecific taxa.
(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 |
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