Vaccinium hirsutum |
Vaccinium myrtillus |
|
---|---|---|
hairy blueberry, small cluster blueberry, woolly berry, wooly berry |
bilberry, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, low bilberry, low blueberry, myrtle blueberry, whortleberry |
|
Habit | Plants forming open colonies, 2–5(–7.5) dm; twigs green, slightly angled, pilose or hairy. | Plants forming open colonies, 0.5–12 dm, rhizomatous; twigs green, conspicuously 3-angled, glabrous or minutely puberulent along grooves. |
Leaves | deciduous; blade green, elliptic, 23–62 × 10–36 mm, subcoriaceous, margins entire, surfaces densely hairy, eglandular abaxially. |
blades bright green, broadly elliptic or ovate, 19–27 × 7–11 mm, margins sharply serrate, surfaces laxly glandular abaxially. |
Flowers | calyx green, glandular-hairy; corolla white, cylindric, 5–9 mm, (glandular-hairy); filaments hairy. |
calyx green, lobes ± recurved (or absent and margins of tube sinuate), deltate, 0.4–0.6 mm, glabrous; corolla pink, cream, or greenish white, globose, 3–5 × 5–7 mm, thin, glaucous; filaments glabrous. |
Berries | black, 7–9 mm diam., hairy. |
purple-black or bluish black, rarely reddish or red, 7–9 mm diam. |
Seeds | 3–9, ca. 1 mm. |
ca. 1 mm. |
2n | = 48. |
= 24, 48. |
Vaccinium hirsutum |
Vaccinium myrtillus |
|
Phenology | Flowering summer. | Flowering late spring–summer. |
Habitat | Dry oak-pine ridges and mountain meadows | Heaths, montane heaths, boggy barrens, degraded meadows, open coniferous forests, oak parklands, disturbed or open birch woods, hummocky seepage slopes, moraines |
Elevation | 600-1500 m (2000-4900 ft) | 0-2600 m (0-8500 ft) |
Distribution |
GA; NC; TN
|
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; AB; BC; Greenland; Europe; e Asia (Japan)
|
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 myrtillus fruits are popular in Europe and are known to possess antioxidants and other compounds beneficial to vascular health. Berries in Europe are extensively harvested from wild stands. In North America, the fruits were used by the Kootenai, Carrier, Shuswap, and other native tribes. The small plant and fruit sizes create challenges for commercialization in North America. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 529. | FNA vol. 8, p. 523. |
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Cyanococcus hirsutus | V. myrtillus subsp. oreophilum, V. myrtillus var. oreophilum, V. oreophilum |
Name authority | Buckley: Amer. J. Sci. Arts 45: 175. 1843 , | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 349. (1753) |
Web links |