Vaccinium deliciosum |
Vaccinium hirsutum |
|
|---|---|---|
|
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 |
CA; ID; OR; WA; BC
|
GA; NC; TN
|
| 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 | ||
| Sibling taxa | ||
| Synonyms | Cyanococcus hirsutus | |
| Name authority | Piper: Mazama 2: 103. 1901 , | Buckley: Amer. J. Sci. Arts 45: 175. 1843 , |
| Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 523. | FNA vol. 8, p. 529. |
| Web links |
| |