FNA: Vaccinium boreale vs. Vaccinium pallidum

	Vaccinium boreale	Vaccinium pallidum
	bleuet boréal, northern blueberry, sweet hurts	Blue Ridge blueberry, Blue Ridge or late low-bush blueberry, hillside blueberry, lowbush blueberry
Habit	Plants forming small, dense colonies, 0.1–0.9 dm, (superficially rhizomatous); twigs green, (delicate), angled, (intricately branched), hairy in lines.	Shrubs, erect, (3–)4–12(–40) dm, rhizomatous, (twigs of previous year not verrucose).
Leaves	deciduous; blade bright green, narrowly elliptic, 8–21 × 2–6 mm, membranous, margins sharply, uniformly serrate, surfaces usually glabrous, eglandular abaxially.	persistent.
Inflorescences		terminal, racemes, on lateral twigs, on previous year’s shoots or older woody stems.
Pedicels		articulated with calyx tube.
Flowers	calyx green, glaucous, glabrous (sometimes ciliate); corolla white to greenish white, cylindric, 3–4 mm; filaments ciliate.	sepals 5; petals 4–5, connate for nearly their entire lengths, corolla cylindric or urceolate; stamens 10, included; anthers ± without awns, tubules 1–1.5 mm, with terminal pores.
Berries	blue, glaucous, 3–5 mm diam., glabrous.	[4-], 5-, [pseudo 8-, or pseudo 10]-locular.
Seeds	10–30, ca. 1.1 mm.	10–25, (ca. 1 mm).
2n	= 24.

	Vaccinium boreale	Vaccinium pallidum
Phenology	Flowering late spring–early summer.	Flowering mid-late spring.
Habitat	Headlands, open, rocky uplands, alpine heaths and meadows, forest-tundra. 0-2000 m	Dry, open oak or oak- hickory woods, open pine woods, ledges, abandoned farmland or cut-over deciduous forests
Elevation		0-1600 m (0-5200 ft)
Distribution	ME; NH; NY; VT; NB; NL; NS; QC [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Discussion		The flowers of Vaccinium pallidum are visited primarily by Andrena carlini Cockerell and Bombus spp. This species occasionally hybridizes with V. angustifolium, yielding V. ×dobbinii Burnham. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source	FNA vol. 8, p. 528.	FNA vol. 8, p. 529.
Parent taxa	Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus	Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus
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. 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. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
Synonyms		Cyanococcus liparis, Cyanococcus margarettae, Cyanococcus pallidus, Cyanococcus subcordatus, Cyanococcus tallapusae, Cyanococcus vacillans, V. altomontanum, V. corymbosum var. pallidum, V. margarettae, V. vacillans, V. vacillans var. crinitum, V. vacillans var. missouriense, V. viride
Name authority	I. V. Hall & Aalders: Amer. J. Bot. 48: 200. 1961 ,	Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 10. 1789 ,
Web links	Local Web sites: Go Botany WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local Web sites: Go Botany, IL Wildflowers, KS Wildflowers, MD Biodiversity, MI Flora, MO Plants WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Vaccinium pallidum

bleuet boréal, northern blueberry, sweet hurts

Blue Ridge blueberry, Blue Ridge or late low-bush blueberry, hillside blueberry, lowbush blueberry

Habit

Plants forming small, dense colonies, 0.1–0.9 dm, (superficially rhizomatous); twigs green, (delicate), angled, (intricately branched), hairy in lines.

Shrubs, erect, (3–)4–12(–40) dm, rhizomatous, (twigs of previous year not verrucose).

Leaves

deciduous;

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

persistent.

Inflorescences

terminal, racemes, on lateral twigs, on previous year’s shoots or older woody stems.

Pedicels

articulated with calyx tube.

Flowers

calyx green, glaucous, glabrous (sometimes ciliate);

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

filaments ciliate.

sepals 5;

petals 4–5, connate for nearly their entire lengths, corolla cylindric or urceolate;

stamens 10, included;

anthers ± without awns, tubules 1–1.5 mm, with terminal pores.

Berries

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

[4-], 5-, [pseudo 8-, or pseudo 10]-locular.

Seeds

10–30, ca. 1.1 mm.

10–25, (ca. 1 mm).

= 24.

Vaccinium pallidum

Phenology

Flowering late spring–early summer.

Flowering mid-late spring.

Habitat

Headlands, open, rocky uplands, alpine heaths and meadows, forest-tundra. 0-2000 m

Dry, open oak or oak- hickory woods, open pine woods, ledges, abandoned farmland or cut-over deciduous forests

Elevation

0-1600 m (0-5200 ft)

Distribution

ME; NH; NY; VT; NB; NL; NS; QC

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

The flowers of Vaccinium pallidum are visited primarily by Andrena carlini Cockerell and Bombus spp. This species occasionally hybridizes with V. angustifolium, yielding V. ×dobbinii Burnham.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source

FNA vol. 8, p. 528.

FNA vol. 8, p. 529.

Parent taxa

Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus

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. 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. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea

Synonyms

Cyanococcus liparis, Cyanococcus margarettae, Cyanococcus pallidus, Cyanococcus subcordatus, Cyanococcus tallapusae, Cyanococcus vacillans, V. altomontanum, V. corymbosum var. pallidum, V. margarettae, V. vacillans, V. vacillans var. crinitum, V. vacillans var. missouriense, V. viride

Name authority

I. V. Hall & Aalders: Amer. J. Bot. 48: 200. 1961 ,

Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 10. 1789 ,

Web links

Local Web sites: Go Botany, IL Wildflowers, KS Wildflowers, MD Biodiversity, MI Flora, MO Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database
LBJ Wildflower Center
SEINet
Plants of the World Online
Encyclopedia of Life
Wikipedia
Google Image Search

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).

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

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Flora of North America species comparison

Vaccinium boreale

Vaccinium pallidum

Vaccinium boreale

Vaccinium pallidum