Vaccinium myrtillus |
Vaccinium ovatum |
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bilberry, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, low bilberry, low blueberry, myrtle blueberry, whortleberry |
California huckleberry, evergreen huckelberry, evergreen huckleberry, winter huckleberry |
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Habit | Plants forming open colonies, 0.5–12 dm, rhizomatous; twigs green, conspicuously 3-angled, glabrous or minutely puberulent along grooves. | Plants clump- or crown-forming; twigs ± terete, pilose. |
Leaf | blades bright green, broadly elliptic or ovate, 19–27 × 7–11 mm, margins sharply serrate, surfaces laxly glandular abaxially. |
blades pale green abaxially, lustrous dark green adaxially, narrowly ovate, 21–29 × 8–12 mm, coriaceous, margins sharply serrate, surfaces glandular abaxially. |
Flowers | 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. |
corolla pinkish, 3–5 mm; filaments hairy. |
Berries | purple-black or bluish black, rarely reddish or red, 7–9 mm diam. |
black or blue, 6–8 mm diam. 2n = 24. |
Seeds | ca. 1 mm. |
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2n | = 24, 48. |
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Vaccinium myrtillus |
Vaccinium ovatum |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–summer. | Flowering early spring-mid summer. |
Habitat | Heaths, montane heaths, boggy barrens, degraded meadows, open coniferous forests, oak parklands, disturbed or open birch woods, hummocky seepage slopes, moraines | Edges of coniferous forests, also epiphytic on trunks of redwoods |
Elevation | 0-2600 m (0-8500 ft) | 0-30 m (0-100 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; AB; BC; Greenland; Europe; e Asia (Japan)
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CA; OR; WA; BC
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Discussion | 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.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 523. | FNA vol. 8, p. 530. |
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Pyxothamnus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | V. myrtillus subsp. oreophilum, V. myrtillus var. oreophilum, V. oreophilum | V. ovatum var. saporosum |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 349. (1753) | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 290. 1813 , |
Web links |
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