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

deerberry, southern gooseberry

Habit Plants forming open colonies, 2–5(–7.5) dm; twigs green, slightly angled, pilose or hairy. Plants frequently crown-forming, suckering when disturbed, forming small or extensive colonies; twigs of current season variously colored, most often green or glaucous, glabrous to densely hairy, sometimes pilose or glandular (not verrucose).
Leaves

deciduous;

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

blades usually pale green or glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, elliptic, 20–80 × 9–32 mm, ± membranous, margins usually entire, inrolled on more-coriaceous blades, surfaces glabrous or densely hairy, rarely glandular.

Inflorescences

2–7-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary.

Pedicels

subtended by leaflike bract (ca. as long as flower).

Flowers

calyx green, glandular-hairy;

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

filaments hairy.

corolla lobes spreading at anthesis, white to greenish white, sometimes purple veined, 4–8 mm;

filaments glabrous or hairy.

Berries

black, 7–9 mm diam., hairy.

green, yellow-green, yellow, purple, or black, often lightly glaucous, 7–18 mm diam., sometimes hairy and sparsely glandular.

Seeds

3–9, ca. 1 mm.

2n

= 48.

= 24.

Vaccinium hirsutum

Vaccinium stamineum

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering spring(-early summer).
Habitat Dry oak-pine ridges and mountain meadows Sandy, well-drained soil, xeric communities such as dry oak woods, pine barrens, savannas, dry pine ridges, sparsely wooded bluffs, sand hills, thickets, clearings (usually on acidic substrates, sometimes on limestone)
Elevation 600-1500 m (2000-4900 ft) 0-1700 m (0-5600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
GA; NC; TN
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV; ON; Mexico (Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí)
[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 stamineum has been subject to an inordinate amount of splitting, especially by E. L. Greene and W. W. Ashe (see S. P. Vander Kloet 1988).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 529. FNA vol. 8, p. 521.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Polycodium
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. macrocarpon, V. membranaceum, V. myrsinites, V. myrtilloides, V. myrtillus, V. ovalifolium, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. pallidum, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
Synonyms Cyanococcus hirsutus Polycodium ashei, Polycodium candicans, Polycodium depressum, Polycodium floridanum, Polycodium leptosepalum, Polycodium macilentum, Polycodium melanocarpum, Polycodium neglectum, Polycodium stamineum, V. caesium, V. melanocarpum, V. neglectum, V. stamineum var. affine, V. stamineum var. austromontanum, V. stamineum var. interius, V. stamineum var. melanocarpum, V. stamineum var. neglectum, V. stamineum var. virginianum
Name authority Buckley: Amer. J. Sci. Arts 45: 175. 1843 , Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 350. 1753 ,
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