Flora of North America species comparison

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Vaccinium myrtilloides

Vaccinium cespitosum

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

airelle gazonnante, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, dwarf huckleberry
Habit Plants forming ± open colonies, 1–11.5 dm; twigs greenish brown, terete, pilose or hairy. Plants forming dense colonies, 0.3–6 dm, superficially rhizomatous; twigs yellow-green, reddish green, or reddish brown, terete to somewhat angled, finely puberulent or, rarely, glabrous.
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.

blades green, usually oblanceolate, sometimes obovate or narrowly elliptic, 10–30 × 3–12 mm, margins usually serrulate from apex to at least mid blade, surfaces usually glandular abaxially, usually glabrous adaxially.
Flowers

calyx green, glabrous, (eglandular);

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

filaments usually hairy.

calyx pale green, lobes vestigial, glabrous;

corolla white, white with pink striping, or pink, cylindric-urceolate to globose, 4–7 × 3–5 mm, thin, glaucous;

filaments glabrous.
Berries

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

usually blue, glaucous, rarely dull black, 5–9 mm diam.
Seeds

10–40, ca. 1 mm.

ca. 1 mm.
2n

= 24.

= 24.

Vaccinium myrtilloides

Vaccinium cespitosum
Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer. Flowering late spring-mid summer.
Habitat Open or disturbed sites in boreal forest, muskegs, bogs, barrens, headlands, outcrops, mountain meadows Open, usually dry habitats, from lowland to subalpine areas
Elevation 0-1700 m (0-5600 ft) 0-4500 m (0-14800 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]
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; ID; ME; MI; MN; MT; NH; NM; NY; OR; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; QC; SK; YT; Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango, Hidalgo); Central America (Guatemala)
[WildflowerSearch map]
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 529. FNA vol. 8, p. 524.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus
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
V. angustifolium, V. arboreum, V. boreale, 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. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
Synonyms Cyanococcus canadensis, V. angustifolium var. myrtilloides, V. canadense V. arbuscula, V. caespitosum var. arbuscula, V. caespitosum var. paludicola, V. geminiflorum, V. nivictum, V. paludicola
Name authority Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 234. 1803 , Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 234. 1803 ,
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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