Vaccinium deliciosum |
Vaccinium ovalifolium |
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blue-leaf huckleberry, Cascade bilberry, Cascade blueberry, Cascade huckleberry, Cascades blueberry, Rainier blueberry |
airelle à feuilles ovées, Alaska blueberry, early blueberry, oval-leaf blueberry, oval-leaf huckleberry |
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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 crown-forming, clumped, suckering when disturbed, rarely forming extensive colonies, 3–40 dm, not rhizomatous; twigs yellow-green or golden brown, glaucous, usually terete, sometimes somewhat angled, glabrous, sometimes hairy in lines. |
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 pale green or glaucous abaxially, slightly darker pale green adaxially, ovate to elliptic, rarely obovate, 25–39 × 16–20 mm, margins entire to obscurely serrate, abaxial surface glabrous, eglandular (sometimes hairy or glandular along midvein), adaxial surface usually glabrous (sometimes hairy and/or glandular). |
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 pale green or glaucous, lobes vestigial or absent, glabrous; corolla pink, bronze-pink, or greenish white, globose, sometimes urceolate, 5–7 × 4–5 mm, thin, glaucous; filaments glabrous or pilose basally. |
Berries | usually blue, glaucous, sometimes dull black, maroon, or red, 9–13 mm diam. |
blue, dull purplish black, or black, sometimes glaucous, 8–10 mm diam. |
Seeds | ca. 1 mm. |
ca. 1 mm. |
2n | = 48. |
= 24, 48. |
Vaccinium deliciosum |
Vaccinium ovalifolium |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–early summer. | Flowering spring-mid summer(-late summer). |
Habitat | Alpine meadows, subalpine coniferous woods, talus slopes | Moist or mesic coniferous woods, transitional habitats adjacent to these coniferous stands, cut-over coniferous woods, verges of road cuts, margins of coniferous woods, peaty slopes |
Elevation | 600-2000 m (2000-6600 ft) | 0-2100 m (0-6900 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; ID; OR; WA; BC
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AK; ID; MI; OR; SD; WA; AB; BC; NF; NS; ON; QC; YT; e Asia (c Japan, Kamchatka)
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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. 524. |
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | V. alaskaense | |
Name authority | Piper: Mazama 2: 103. 1901 , | Smith: in A. Rees, Cycl. 36: Vaccinium no. 2. (1817) |
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