Flora of North America species comparison

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Vaccinium boreale

Vaccinium cespitosum

bleuet boréal, northern blueberry, sweet hurts

airelle gazonnante, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, dwarf huckleberry
Habit Plants forming small, dense colonies, 0.1–0.9 dm, (superficially rhizomatous); twigs green, (delicate), angled, (intricately branched), hairy in lines. Plants forming dense colonies, 0.3–6 dm, superficially rhizomatous; twigs yellow-green, reddish green, or reddish brown, terete to somewhat angled, finely puberulent or, rarely, glabrous.
Leaves

deciduous;

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

blades green, usually oblanceolate, sometimes obovate or narrowly elliptic, 10–30 × 3–12 mm, margins usually serrulate from apex to at least mid blade, surfaces usually glandular abaxially, usually glabrous adaxially.
Flowers

calyx green, glaucous, glabrous (sometimes ciliate);

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

filaments ciliate.

calyx pale green, lobes vestigial, glabrous;

corolla white, white with pink striping, or pink, cylindric-urceolate to globose, 4–7 × 3–5 mm, thin, glaucous;

filaments glabrous.
Berries

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

usually blue, glaucous, rarely dull black, 5–9 mm diam.
Seeds

10–30, ca. 1.1 mm.

ca. 1 mm.
2n

= 24.

= 24.

Vaccinium boreale

Vaccinium cespitosum
Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer. Flowering late spring-mid summer.
Habitat Headlands, open, rocky uplands, alpine heaths and meadows, forest-tundra. 0-2000 m Open, usually dry habitats, from lowland to subalpine areas
Elevation 0-4500 m (0-14800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
ME; NH; NY; VT; NB; NL; NS; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; ID; ME; MI; MN; MT; NH; NM; NY; OR; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango, Hidalgo); Central America (Guatemala)
[WildflowerSearch map]
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 528. FNA vol. 8, p. 524.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus
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. arboreum, V. boreale, 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 V. arbuscula, V. caespitosum var. arbuscula, V. caespitosum var. paludicola, V. geminiflorum, V. nivictum, V. paludicola
Name authority I. V. Hall & Aalders: Amer. J. Bot. 48: 200. 1961 , Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 234. 1803 ,
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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