Flora of North America species comparison

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Vaccinium boreale

Vaccinium arboreum

bleuet boréal, northern blueberry, sweet hurts

farkleberry, sparkleberry
Habit Plants forming small, dense colonies, 0.1–0.9 dm, (superficially rhizomatous); twigs green, (delicate), angled, (intricately branched), hairy in lines. Shrubs or trees, trunks to 35 cm diam. at breast height; twigs of current season reddish green, glabrous, glaucous, or glandular-hairy, not verrucose.
Leaves

deciduous;

blade bright green, narrowly elliptic, 8–21 × 2–6 mm, membranous, margins sharply, uniformly serrate, surfaces usually glabrous, eglandular abaxially.

blades pale green, glaucous, obovate to oblong, 22–40 × 12–20 mm, coriaceous, surfaces glabrous or glandular-hairy abaxially, glabrous and lustrous adaxially.
Inflorescence

bracts ± persistent.
Pedicels

slender, 0.8–1.2 cm.
Flowers

calyx green, glaucous, glabrous (sometimes ciliate);

corolla white to greenish white, cylindric, 3–4 mm;

filaments ciliate.

calyx 21–29 × 7–13 mm;

corolla white, 3–5 mm;

filaments ciliate.
Berries

blue, glaucous, 3–5 mm diam., glabrous.

shiny black, 7–9 mm diam. 2n = 24.
Seeds

10–30, ca. 1.1 mm.

2n

= 24.

Vaccinium boreale

Vaccinium arboreum
Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer. Flowering spring.
Habitat Headlands, open, rocky uplands, alpine heaths and meadows, forest-tundra. 0-2000 m Sandy or rocky habitats, usually xeric woodlands
Elevation 0-800 m (0-2600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
ME; NH; NY; VT; NB; NL; NS; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Vaccinium arboreum is rare and local in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, and Virginia.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 528. FNA vol. 8, p. 525.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Batodendron
Sibling taxa
V. angustifolium, V. arboreum, V. cespitosum, V. corymbosum, V. crassifolium, V. darrowii, V. deliciosum, V. erythrocarpum, V. hirsutum, V. macrocarpon, V. membranaceum, V. myrsinites, V. myrtilloides, V. myrtillus, V. ovalifolium, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. pallidum, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
V. angustifolium, V. boreale, V. cespitosum, V. corymbosum, V. crassifolium, V. darrowii, V. deliciosum, V. erythrocarpum, V. hirsutum, V. macrocarpon, V. membranaceum, V. myrsinites, V. myrtilloides, V. myrtillus, V. ovalifolium, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. pallidum, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
Synonyms Batodendron arboreum, V. arboreum var. glaucescens
Name authority I. V. Hall & Aalders: Amer. J. Bot. 48: 200. 1961 , Marshall: Arbust. Amer., 157. 1785 ,
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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