Flora of North America species comparison

erect, arching, spreading, creeping, or procumbent.

blades bright green, broadly elliptic or ovate, 19–27 × 7–11 mm, margins sharply serrate, surfaces laxly glandular abaxially.

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

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

blade plane, abaxial groove absent.

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).

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.

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.

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

purple-black or bluish black, rarely reddish or red, 7–9 mm diam.

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.

= 24, 48.