Vaccinium myrtillus |
Vaccinium macrocarpon |
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bilberry, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, low bilberry, low blueberry, myrtle blueberry, whortleberry |
American cranberry, canneberge à gros fruits, cranberry, cultivated cranberry, large cranberry |
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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 often ascending, shoots 0.4–1.5 dm. |
Leaf | blades bright green, broadly elliptic or ovate, 19–27 × 7–11 mm, margins sharply serrate, surfaces laxly glandular abaxially. |
blades glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, usually narrowly elliptic to elliptic, rarely oblong, 5–18 × 2–55 mm, margins entire, slightly revolute. |
Inflorescences | in axils of leaflike bracts at base of current year’s shoots. |
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Pedicels | nodding, slender, 2–3 cm, bracteolate; bracteoles 2, greenish white, scalelike, 1–2 mm wide. |
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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 lobes relatively small; corolla strongly reflexed at anthesis, white to pink; filaments hairy; anther tubules 1–2 mm. |
Berries | purple-black or bluish black, rarely reddish or red, 7–9 mm diam. |
red to pink, 9–14 mm diam., smooth. |
Seeds | ca. 1 mm. |
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2n | = 24, 48. |
= 24. |
Vaccinium myrtillus |
Vaccinium macrocarpon |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–summer. | Flowering late 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 | Bogs, swamps, mires, wet shores and headlands |
Elevation | 0-2600 m (0-8500 ft) | 0-1400 m (0-4600 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; AB; BC; Greenland; Europe; e Asia (Japan)
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CT; DC; DE; IL; IN; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; TN; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; BC; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SPM [Introduced in Europe]
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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.) |
Vaccinium macrocarpon is introduced and escaping elsewhere (British Columbia, Oregon, Washington) with respect to its normal range in eastern North America. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 523. | FNA vol. 8, p. 519. |
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Oxycoccus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | V. myrtillus subsp. oreophilum, V. myrtillus var. oreophilum, V. oreophilum | Oxycoccus macrocarpus |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 349. (1753) | Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 13, plate 7. (1789) |
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