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

creeping blueberry

Habit Plants forming open colonies, 2–5(–7.5) dm; twigs green, slightly angled, pilose or hairy. Plants extensively mat-forming (often by layering), with erect branches from lateral buds, rooting and/or swelling into woody burls at nodes; twigs of current year reddish green, terete, finely hairy, not verrucose.
Leaves

deciduous;

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

blades dark green, elliptic to obovate, (10–)12–15(–39) × (4–)5–7(–24) mm, coriaceous, margins ± entire, surfaces glabrescent.

Pedicels

0.1–0.3 cm.

Flowers

calyx green, glandular-hairy;

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

filaments hairy.

calyx lobes distinct;

corolla usually white, 3–5 mm;

filaments ciliate.

Berries

black, 7–9 mm diam., hairy.

black, 6–8 mm diam., insipid.

Seeds

3–9, ca. 1 mm.

2n

= 48.

= 24.

Vaccinium hirsutum

Vaccinium crassifolium

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering late spring.
Habitat Dry oak-pine ridges and mountain meadows Coastal plain, open pine flatwoods, pine barrens, pocosin ecotones and associated disturbed areas, road cuts, fire trails, mown roadsides
Elevation 600-1500 m (2000-4900 ft) 0-200 m (0-700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
GA; NC; TN
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
GA; NC; SC; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county 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. 525.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Herpothamnus
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. cespitosum, V. corymbosum, 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 Herpothamnus crassifolius, V. crassifolium subsp. sempervirens, V. sempervirens
Name authority Buckley: Amer. J. Sci. Arts 45: 175. 1843 , Andrews: Bot. Repos. 2: plate 105. (1800)
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