Flora of North America species comparison

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Vaccinium boreale

Vaccinium scoparium

bleuet boréal, northern blueberry, sweet hurts

grouse whortleberry, grouseberry, little-leaf 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 extensive colonies, 0.7–2 dm, rhizomatous; twigs green, angled, glabrous; ultimate branches compact, often forming broomlike clumps or tufts.
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 abaxially, elliptic, lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, 7–11 × 4–6 mm, margins finely serrulate, surfaces glabrous.
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 pink, globose to urceolate, 3–4 × 3–4 mm, thin, glaucous;

filaments glabrous.
Berries

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

red, ± translucent, or bluish purple, 4–6 mm diam.
Seeds

10–30, ca. 1.1 mm.

ca. 1 mm.
2n

= 24.

Vaccinium boreale

Vaccinium scoparium
Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer. Flowering early-mid summer.
Habitat Headlands, open, rocky uplands, alpine heaths and meadows, forest-tundra. 0-2000 m Alpine and subalpine meadows, heaths, talus slopes
Elevation 700-3000 m (2300-9800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
ME; NH; NY; VT; NB; NL; NS; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The soft, tart, bright red berries of Vaccinium scoparium, to 6 mm diameter, have fair to good flavor and were gathered and eaten raw by the Kootenay, Okanogan, Shuswap, and other Indian tribes. Harvesting was probably done using wooden or fish-bone combs. Small fruit size, low yields, and difficult harvesting make commercial prospects for V. scoparium questionable.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 528. FNA vol. 8, p. 522.
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. 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. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
Synonyms V. myrtillus var. microphyllum, V. erythrococcum
Name authority I. V. Hall & Aalders: Amer. J. Bot. 48: 200. 1961 , Leiberg ex Coville: Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 5: 103. 1897 ,
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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