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bilberry, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, low bilberry, low blueberry, myrtle blueberry, whortleberry

bleuet à feuilles étroites, common lowbush blueberry, early low-bush blueberry, lowbush blueberry, sweet lowbush blueberry

Habit Plants forming open colonies, 0.5–12 dm, rhizomatous; twigs green, conspicuously 3-angled, glabrous or minutely puberulent along grooves. Plants forming dense, extensive colonies, 1–3 dm; twigs of current season green to glaucous, ± angled, glabrous or hairy.
Leaves

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

deciduous;

blade dark to pale green or glaucous, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, 15–41 × (5–)6–16(–20) mm, margins usually sharply, uniformly serrate (serrations sometimes minute, tipped with stipitate gland), surfaces glabrous or hairy, especially along abaxial midvein, eglandular 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.

calyx green, glaucous, glabrous;

corolla usually white, cylindric to urceolate, 4–6 mm;

filaments ciliate; (tubules with introrse, elongate pores).

Berries

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

black or blue, rarely white, 3–12 mm diam., glabrous.

Seeds

ca. 1 mm.

(3–)10–15(–20), ca. 1.2 mm.

2n

= 24, 48.

= 48.

Vaccinium myrtillus

Vaccinium angustifolium

Phenology Flowering late spring–summer. Flowering spring–early summer.
Habitat Heaths, montane heaths, boggy barrens, degraded meadows, open coniferous forests, oak parklands, disturbed or open birch woods, hummocky seepage slopes, moraines Headlands, high moors, dry, sandy areas, peaty barrens, rocky outcroppings, pine barrens, oak parklands, regeneration forests, abandoned pastures and bogs
Elevation 0-2600 m (0-8500 ft) 0-1900 m (0-6200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; AB; BC; Greenland; Europe; e Asia (Japan)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CT; DE; IA; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; MB; NB; NL; NS; ON; PE; QC; SPM
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Vaccinium angustifolium is extensively harvested from cultivated and wild plants in New England (especially Maine) and in Quebec and the Canadian Maritime Provinces.

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

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 523. FNA vol. 8, p. 528.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus
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. myrtilloides, V. ovalifolium, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. pallidum, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
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. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
Synonyms V. myrtillus subsp. oreophilum, V. myrtillus var. oreophilum, V. oreophilum V. angustifolium var. hypolasium, V. angustifolium var. laevifolium, V. angustifolium var. nigrum, V. brittonii, V. lamarckii, V. nigrum, V. pensylvanicum var. nigrum
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 349. (1753) Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 11. 1789 ,
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