The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

bleuet fausse-myrtille, sour-top blueberry, sourtop, velvet-leaf blueberry, velvetleaf huckleberry

Habit Plants forming ± open colonies, 1–11.5 dm; twigs greenish brown, terete, pilose or hairy.
Stems

erect, arching, spreading, creeping, or procumbent.

Leaves

deciduous;

blade green, elliptic, 23–35 × 8–16 mm, membranous to subcoriaceous, margins entire, surfaces ± densely hairy (sometimes mostly on veins), eglandular, sometimes glabrescent.

deciduous or persistent, alternate, sometimes pseudoverticillate (Pieris);

petiole usually present, sometimes absent (some species of Vaccinium);

blade plane, abaxial groove absent.

Inflorescences

usually axillary, sometimes terminal, usually panicles or racemes, sometimes corymbs or fascicles, sometimes solitary flowers, (borne on leafy twigs, except Zenobia on leafless twigs);

perulae absent;

bracts much shorter than sepals (sometimes absent).

Flowers

calyx green, glabrous, (eglandular);

corolla greenish white to pink, urceolate, 3–5 mm, (eglandular);

filaments usually hairy.

pendulous;

perianth and androecium hypogynous or epigynous (Gaylussacia, Vaccinium);

sepals (4-)5[-8];

petals 4-5(-6), connate (rarely distinct or nearly so in some species of Vaccinium), corolla deciduous, campanulate, cylindric, or urceolate, lobes usually much shorter (sometimes longer) than tube;

intrastaminal nectary disc absent or present;

stamens 8-10[-16];

anthers dehiscent by terminal pores or short slits;

ovary 5- or 10-locular;

placentation axile;

style straight.

Fruits

capsular, dehiscence loculicidal, or baccate or drupaceous, indehiscent.

Berries

blue, glaucous, 6–8 mm diam., glabrous.

Seeds

10–40, ca. 1 mm.

2-300, distinct, ovoid or obovoid to ellipsoid, lanceoloid, or conic, to angular or wedge- or crescent-shaped, usually not winged, sometimes slightly winged or tailed.

2n

= 24.

Vaccinium myrtilloides

Ericaceae subfam. vaccinioideae

Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat Open or disturbed sites in boreal forest, muskegs, bogs, barrens, headlands, outcrops, mountain meadows
Elevation 0-1700 m (0-5600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CT; IA; IL; IN; MA; ME; MN; MT; NH; NY; OH; PA; VT; WI; WV; AB; BC; LB; MB; NB; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Nearly worldwide; especially arctic; temperate; and alpine areas; also very diverse in neotropical cloud forests
Discussion

Genera 46, species ca. 1600 (12 genera, 58 species in the flora)

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

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 529. FNA vol. 8, p. 496. Author: Gordon C. Tucker.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus Ericaceae
Sibling taxa
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. myrtillus, V. ovalifolium, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. pallidum, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
Subordinate taxa
Synonyms Cyanococcus canadensis, V. angustifolium var. myrtilloides, V. canadense
Name authority Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 234. 1803 , Arnott: M. Napier, Encycl. Brit. ed. 7 5: 118. (1832) — (as Vaccinieae)
Web links