Flora of North America species comparison

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Vaccinium hirsutum

Vaccinium macrocarpon

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

American cranberry, canneberge à gros fruits, cranberry, cultivated cranberry, large cranberry
Habit Plants forming open colonies, 2–5(–7.5) dm; twigs green, slightly angled, pilose or hairy. Plants often ascending, shoots 0.4–1.5 dm.
Leaves

deciduous;

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

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 green, glandular-hairy;

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

filaments hairy.

calyx lobes relatively small;

corolla strongly reflexed at anthesis, white to pink;

filaments hairy;

anther tubules 1–2 mm.
Berries

black, 7–9 mm diam., hairy.

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

3–9, ca. 1 mm.

2n

= 48.

= 24.

Vaccinium hirsutum

Vaccinium macrocarpon
Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat Dry oak-pine ridges and mountain meadows Bogs, swamps, mires, wet shores and headlands
Elevation 600-1500 m (2000-4900 ft) 0-1400 m (0-4600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
GA; NC; TN
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county 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 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.)

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.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 529. FNA vol. 8, p. 519.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Oxycoccus
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. 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 Cyanococcus hirsutus Oxycoccus macrocarpus
Name authority Buckley: Amer. J. Sci. Arts 45: 175. 1843 , Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 13, plate 7. (1789)
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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