Vaccinium deliciosum |
Vaccinium boreale |
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blue-leaf huckleberry, Cascade bilberry, Cascade blueberry, Cascade huckleberry, Cascades blueberry, Rainier blueberry |
bleuet boréal, northern blueberry, sweet hurts |
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Habit | Plants forming small clumps to extensive open colonies, 0.5–15 dm, rhizomatous; twigs green, sometimes glaucous, ± terete, rarely angled, usually glabrous, rarely hairy along veins or puberulent. | Plants forming small, dense colonies, 0.1–0.9 dm, (superficially rhizomatous); twigs green, (delicate), angled, (intricately branched), hairy in lines. |
Leaves | blades usually glaucous, obovate, oblanceolate, or, rarely, elliptic, 17–35 × 9–17 mm, margins usually serrate for at least distal 2/3, surfaces usually glabrous, eglandular or, rarely, glandular throughout, often glandular-hairy along midvein. |
deciduous; blade bright green, narrowly elliptic, 8–21 × 2–6 mm, membranous, margins sharply, uniformly serrate, surfaces usually glabrous, eglandular abaxially. |
Flowers | calyx glaucous, lobes indistinct or shallow, glabrous; corolla pink, creamy pink, or red, globose to globular-urceolate, 4–6 × 5–7 mm, thin, glaucous; filaments glabrous. |
calyx green, glaucous, glabrous (sometimes ciliate); corolla white to greenish white, cylindric, 3–4 mm; filaments ciliate. |
Berries | usually blue, glaucous, sometimes dull black, maroon, or red, 9–13 mm diam. |
blue, glaucous, 3–5 mm diam., glabrous. |
Seeds | ca. 1 mm. |
10–30, ca. 1.1 mm. |
2n | = 48. |
= 24. |
Vaccinium deliciosum |
Vaccinium boreale |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–early summer. | Flowering late spring–early summer. |
Habitat | Alpine meadows, subalpine coniferous woods, talus slopes | Headlands, open, rocky uplands, alpine heaths and meadows, forest-tundra. 0-2000 m |
Elevation | 600-2000 m (2000-6600 ft) | |
Distribution |
CA; ID; OR; WA; BC
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ME; NH; NY; VT; NB; NL; NS; QC
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Discussion | Vaccinium deliciosum produces especially flavorful berries. Research at the University of Idaho and Washington State University identified 31 aromatic flavor compounds in the fruits. Despite its outstanding flavor and large fruit size, it is harvested less than is V. membranaceum because it has a smaller range and is less abundant there than its black-fruited congener. Also, like V. membranaceum, V. deliciosum is native at higher elevations and can be difficult to grow at low elevations. Although rhizomatous, V. deliciosum has a dense root system and transplants easily. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 523. | FNA vol. 8, p. 528. |
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Piper: Mazama 2: 103. 1901 , | I. V. Hall & Aalders: Amer. J. Bot. 48: 200. 1961 , |
Web links |
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