Flora of North America species comparison

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Vaccinium deliciosum

Vaccinium macrocarpon

blue-leaf huckleberry, Cascade bilberry, Cascade blueberry, Cascade huckleberry, Cascades blueberry, Rainier blueberry

American cranberry, canneberge à gros fruits, cranberry, cultivated cranberry, large cranberry
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 often ascending, shoots 0.4–1.5 dm.
Leaf

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.

blades glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, usually narrowly elliptic to elliptic, rarely oblong, 5–18 × 2–55 mm, margins entire, slightly revolute.
Inflorescences

in axils of leaflike bracts at base of current year’s shoots.
Pedicels

nodding, slender, 2–3 cm, bracteolate;

bracteoles 2, greenish white, scalelike, 1–2 mm wide.
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 lobes relatively small;

corolla strongly reflexed at anthesis, white to pink;

filaments hairy;

anther tubules 1–2 mm.
Berries

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

red to pink, 9–14 mm diam., smooth.
Seeds

ca. 1 mm.

2n

= 48.

= 24.

Vaccinium deliciosum

Vaccinium macrocarpon
Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer. Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat Alpine meadows, subalpine coniferous woods, talus slopes Bogs, swamps, mires, wet shores and headlands
Elevation 600-2000 m [2000-6600 ft] 0-1400 m [0-4600 ft]
Distribution
map from FNA
CA; ID; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
map from FNA
CT; DC; DE; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; TN; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; BC; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SPM [Introduced in Europe]
[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 macrocarpon is introduced and escaping elsewhere (British Columbia, Oregon, Washington) with respect to its normal range in eastern North America.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Oxycoccus
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. hirsutum, 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 Oxycoccus macrocarpus
Name authority Piper: Mazama 2: 103. 1901 , Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 13, plate 7. (1789)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 523. Treatment author: Sam P. Vander Kloet. FNA vol. 8, p. 519. Treatment author: Sam P. Vander Kloet.
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Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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