The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

bleuet en corymbe, high-bush blueberry, highbush huckleberry, New Jersey blueberry, smallflower blueberry, southern blueberry

farkleberry, sparkleberry

Habit Plants erect, not colonial, sometimes suckering, 10–50 dm; twigs green, angular to terete, usually 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

usually deciduous;

blade dark green, ovate to narrowly elliptic, 15–70 × 10–25 mm, subcoriaceous, margins sharply serrate or entire, surfaces glabrous or hairy 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, glabrous;

corolla white to pink, ± cylindric, 5–12 mm;

filaments usually ciliate.

calyx 21–29 × 7–13 mm;

corolla white, 3–5 mm;

filaments ciliate.

Berries

dull black to blue, glaucous, 4–12 mm diam., glabrous.

shiny black, 7–9 mm diam. 2n = 24.

Seeds

10–20(–25), ca. 1.2 mm.

2n

= 24, 48, 72.

Vaccinium corymbosum

Vaccinium arboreum

Phenology Flowering spring(-early summer). Flowering spring.
Habitat Open swamps, bogs, sandy margins of lakes, ponds, and streams, flatwoods, gray-birch scrub, pine barrens, mires, bay heads, upland ericaceous meadows, upland woods, ravines, mountain summits Sandy or rocky habitats, usually xeric woodlands
Elevation 0-1600 m (0-5200 ft) 0-800 m (0-2600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CT; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; BC; NB; NS; ON; QC [Introduced in Europe (Britain, The Netherlands), e Asia (Japan), Pacific Islands (New Zealand)]
[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

Every morphological variant of the high-bush blueberry has been named formally at one time or another. At least 25 such taxa have been raised to specific rank; none is distinct throughout its putative range nor has the properties normally associated with biological species, including Vaccinium atrococcum and V. elliottii. See S. P. Vander Kloet (1980) for a complete list of synonyms. Feral populations readily become established wherever cultivars have been planted, e.g., Britain, British Columbia, Japan, Missouri, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Washington, and Wisconsin.

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

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. 526. 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. boreale, V. cespitosum, 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 Cyanococcus amoenus, Cyanococcus atrococcus, Cyanococcus corymbosus, Cyanococcus cuthbertii, Cyanococcus elliottii, Cyanococcus fuscatus, Cyanococcus holophyllus, Cyanococcus margarettae, Cyanococcus simulatus, Cyanococcus virgatus, V. amoenum, V. atrococcum, V. australe, V. constablaei, V. corymbosum var. albiflorum, V. corymbosum var. glabrum, V. elliottii, V. formosum, V. fuscatum, V. simulatum, V. virgatum Batodendron arboreum, V. arboreum var. glaucescens
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 350. (1753) Marshall: Arbust. Amer., 157. 1785 ,
Web links