The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
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blue-leaf huckleberry, Cascade bilberry, Cascade blueberry, Cascade huckleberry, Cascades blueberry, Rainier blueberry

hairy blueberry, small cluster blueberry, woolly berry, wooly berry

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 open colonies, 2–5(–7.5) dm; twigs green, slightly angled, pilose or hairy.
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 green, elliptic, 23–62 × 10–36 mm, subcoriaceous, margins entire, surfaces densely hairy, 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, glandular-hairy;

corolla white, cylindric, 5–9 mm, (glandular-hairy);

filaments hairy.

Berries

usually blue, glaucous, sometimes dull black, maroon, or red, 9–13 mm diam.

black, 7–9 mm diam., hairy.

Seeds

ca. 1 mm.

3–9, ca. 1 mm.

2n

= 48.

= 48.

Vaccinium deliciosum

Vaccinium hirsutum

Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer. Flowering summer.
Habitat Alpine meadows, subalpine coniferous woods, talus slopes Dry oak-pine ridges and mountain meadows
Elevation 600-2000 m [2000-6600 ft] 600-1500 m [2000-4900 ft]
Distribution
map from FNA
CA; ID; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
map from FNA
GA; NC; TN
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Vaccinium hirsutum is uncommon (but not threatened) in Tennessee, rare in North Carolina, and probably extirpated in Georgia.

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

Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus
Sibling taxa
V. angustifolium, V. arboreum, V. boreale, V. cespitosum, V. corymbosum, V. crassifolium, V. darrowii, 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. 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 hirsutus
Name authority Piper: Mazama 2: 103. 1901 , Buckley: Amer. J. Sci. Arts 45: 175. 1843 ,
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 523. Treatment author: Sam P. Vander Kloet. FNA vol. 8, p. 529. Treatment author: Sam P. Vander Kloet.
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