Flora of North America species comparison

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Vaccinium hirsutum

Vaccinium cespitosum

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

airelle gazonnante, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, dwarf huckleberry
Habit Plants forming open colonies, 2–5(–7.5) dm; twigs green, slightly angled, pilose or hairy. Plants forming dense colonies, 0.3–6 dm, superficially rhizomatous; twigs yellow-green, reddish green, or reddish brown, terete to somewhat angled, finely puberulent or, rarely, glabrous.
Leaves

deciduous;

blade green, elliptic, 23–62 × 10–36 mm, subcoriaceous, margins entire, surfaces densely hairy, eglandular abaxially.

blades green, usually oblanceolate, sometimes obovate or narrowly elliptic, 10–30 × 3–12 mm, margins usually serrulate from apex to at least mid blade, surfaces usually glandular abaxially, usually glabrous adaxially.
Flowers

calyx green, glandular-hairy;

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

filaments hairy.

calyx pale green, lobes vestigial, glabrous;

corolla white, white with pink striping, or pink, cylindric-urceolate to globose, 4–7 × 3–5 mm, thin, glaucous;

filaments glabrous.
Berries

black, 7–9 mm diam., hairy.

usually blue, glaucous, rarely dull black, 5–9 mm diam.
Seeds

3–9, ca. 1 mm.

ca. 1 mm.
2n

= 48.

= 24.

Vaccinium hirsutum

Vaccinium cespitosum
Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering late spring-mid summer.
Habitat Dry oak-pine ridges and mountain meadows Open, usually dry habitats, from lowland to subalpine areas
Elevation 600-1500 m (2000-4900 ft) 0-4500 m (0-14800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
GA; NC; TN
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; ID; ME; MI; MN; MT; NH; NM; NY; OR; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango, Hidalgo); Central America (Guatemala)
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

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.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 529. FNA vol. 8, p. 524.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus
Sibling taxa
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
V. angustifolium, V. arboreum, V. boreale, V. corymbosum, V. crassifolium, V. darrowii, V. deliciosum, 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
Synonyms Cyanococcus hirsutus V. arbuscula, V. caespitosum var. arbuscula, V. caespitosum var. paludicola, V. geminiflorum, V. nivictum, V. paludicola
Name authority Buckley: Amer. J. Sci. Arts 45: 175. 1843 , Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 234. 1803 ,
Web links 
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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