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airelle gazonnante, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, dwarf huckleberry

farkleberry, sparkleberry

Habit 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. Shrubs or trees, trunks to 35 cm diam. at breast height; twigs of current season reddish green, glabrous, glaucous, or glandular-hairy, not verrucose.
Leaf

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.

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 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.

calyx 21–29 × 7–13 mm;

corolla white, 3–5 mm;

filaments ciliate.

Berries

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

shiny black, 7–9 mm diam. 2n = 24.

Seeds

ca. 1 mm.

2n

= 24.

Vaccinium cespitosum

Vaccinium arboreum

Phenology Flowering late spring-mid summer. Flowering spring.
Habitat Open, usually dry habitats, from lowland to subalpine areas Sandy or rocky habitats, usually xeric woodlands
Elevation 0-4500 m (0-14800 ft) 0-800 m (0-2600 ft)
Distribution
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]
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. 524. FNA vol. 8, p. 525.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Batodendron
Sibling taxa
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
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 V. arbuscula, V. caespitosum var. arbuscula, V. caespitosum var. paludicola, V. geminiflorum, V. nivictum, V. paludicola Batodendron arboreum, V. arboreum var. glaucescens
Name authority Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 234. 1803 , Marshall: Arbust. Amer., 157. 1785 ,
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