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

airelle des marécages, alpine blueberry, blueberry, bog bilberry, bog blueberry

Habit Plants forming open colonies, 2–5(–7.5) dm; twigs green, slightly angled, pilose or hairy. Plants forming dense mats or open, extensive colonies; twigs of current season pale green, terete, glabrous or faintly puberulent, not verrucose.
Leaves

deciduous;

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

blades usually glaucous abaxially, green to glaucous adaxially, orbiculate, ovate, or obovate to narrowly elliptic, 8–14 × 3–7 mm, membranous, margins entire, surfaces often faintly puberulent, sometimes hairy throughout.

Flowers

calyx green, glandular-hairy;

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

filaments hairy.

sepals usually distinct;

corolla white to pink, 3–4(–5) mm, lobes 0.3–0.4 mm;

filaments glabrous.

Berries

black, 7–9 mm diam., hairy.

blue, 6–8 mm diam., glaucous.

Seeds

3–9, ca. 1 mm.

2n

= 48.

= 24, 48, 72.

Vaccinium hirsutum

Vaccinium uliginosum

Phenology Flowering summer. Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat Dry oak-pine ridges and mountain meadows Wet or dry acidic sites in boreal taiga, tundras, and alpine thickets and krummholz
Elevation 600-1500 m (2000-4900 ft) 0-2200 m (0-7200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
GA; NC; TN
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AK; CA; ID; ME; MI; MN; MT; NH; NV; NY; OR; UT; VT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM; Greenland; n Eurasia
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[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 uliginosum is transcontinental in North America between 60° and 70° north latitude; farther north it is rare, especially in the Queen Elizabeth Islands. To the southwest, it is found as far as northern California and northwestern Utah. The summits of the White Mountains of New Hampshire form its southernmost limit in eastern North America. This wide-ranging plant shows considerable variation, notably in floral morphology. Subspecies have been recognized (cf. S. B. Young 1970); a review of morphological variation by H. J. Warr (1981) did not support the distinctiveness of infraspecific taxa.

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

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 529. FNA vol. 8, p. 518.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Vaccinium
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. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. vitis-idaea
Synonyms Cyanococcus hirsutus V. gaultherioides, V. occidentale, V. uliginosum subsp. alpinum, V. uliginosum var. alpinum, V. uliginosum subsp. gaultherioides, V. uliginosum subsp. microphyllum, V. uliginosum subsp. occidentale, V. uliginosum var. occidentale, V. uliginosum subsp. pedris, V. uliginosum subsp. pubescens, V. uliginosum var. salicinum
Name authority Buckley: Amer. J. Sci. Arts 45: 175. 1843 , Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 350. 1753 ,
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