Vaccinium myrtillus |
Vaccinium myrtilloides |
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bilberry, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, low bilberry, low blueberry, myrtle blueberry, whortleberry |
bleuet fausse-myrtille, sour-top blueberry, sourtop, velvet-leaf blueberry, velvetleaf 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 forming ± open colonies, 1–11.5 dm; twigs greenish brown, terete, pilose or hairy. |
Leaves | blades bright green, broadly elliptic or ovate, 19–27 × 7–11 mm, margins sharply serrate, surfaces laxly glandular abaxially. |
deciduous; blade green, elliptic, 23–35 × 8–16 mm, membranous to subcoriaceous, margins entire, surfaces ± densely hairy (sometimes mostly on veins), eglandular, sometimes glabrescent. |
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, glabrous, (eglandular); corolla greenish white to pink, urceolate, 3–5 mm, (eglandular); filaments usually hairy. |
Berries | purple-black or bluish black, rarely reddish or red, 7–9 mm diam. |
blue, glaucous, 6–8 mm diam., glabrous. |
Seeds | ca. 1 mm. |
10–40, ca. 1 mm. |
2n | = 24, 48. |
= 24. |
Vaccinium myrtillus |
Vaccinium myrtilloides |
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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 | Open or disturbed sites in boreal forest, muskegs, bogs, barrens, headlands, outcrops, mountain meadows |
Elevation | 0-2600 m (0-8500 ft) | 0-1700 m (0-5600 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; AB; BC; Greenland; Europe; e Asia (Japan)
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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
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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. 529. |
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | V. myrtillus subsp. oreophilum, V. myrtillus var. oreophilum, V. oreophilum | Cyanococcus canadensis, V. angustifolium var. myrtilloides, V. canadense |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 349. (1753) | Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 234. 1803 , |
Web links |