Vaccinium myrtillus |
Vaccinium ovalifolium |
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bilberry, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, low bilberry, low blueberry, myrtle blueberry, whortleberry |
airelle à feuilles ovées, Alaska blueberry, early blueberry, oval-leaf blueberry, oval-leaf 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 crown-forming, clumped, suckering when disturbed, rarely forming extensive colonies, 3–40 dm, not rhizomatous; twigs yellow-green or golden brown, glaucous, usually terete, sometimes somewhat angled, glabrous, sometimes hairy in lines. |
Leaf | blades bright green, broadly elliptic or ovate, 19–27 × 7–11 mm, margins sharply serrate, surfaces laxly glandular abaxially. |
blades pale green or glaucous abaxially, slightly darker pale green adaxially, ovate to elliptic, rarely obovate, 25–39 × 16–20 mm, margins entire to obscurely serrate, abaxial surface glabrous, eglandular (sometimes hairy or glandular along midvein), adaxial surface usually glabrous (sometimes hairy and/or glandular). |
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 pale green or glaucous, lobes vestigial or absent, glabrous; corolla pink, bronze-pink, or greenish white, globose, sometimes urceolate, 5–7 × 4–5 mm, thin, glaucous; filaments glabrous or pilose basally. |
Berries | purple-black or bluish black, rarely reddish or red, 7–9 mm diam. |
blue, dull purplish black, or black, sometimes glaucous, 8–10 mm diam. |
Seeds | ca. 1 mm. |
ca. 1 mm. |
2n | = 24, 48. |
= 24, 48. |
Vaccinium myrtillus |
Vaccinium ovalifolium |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–summer. | Flowering spring-mid summer(-late summer). |
Habitat | Heaths, montane heaths, boggy barrens, degraded meadows, open coniferous forests, oak parklands, disturbed or open birch woods, hummocky seepage slopes, moraines | Moist or mesic coniferous woods, transitional habitats adjacent to these coniferous stands, cut-over coniferous woods, verges of road cuts, margins of coniferous woods, peaty slopes |
Elevation | 0-2600 m (0-8500 ft) | 0-2100 m (0-6900 ft) |
Distribution |
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; AB; BC; Greenland; Europe; e Asia (Japan)
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AK; ID; MI; OR; SD; WA; AB; BC; NF; NS; ON; QC; YT; e Asia (c Japan, Kamchatka)
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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. 524. |
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | V. myrtillus subsp. oreophilum, V. myrtillus var. oreophilum, V. oreophilum | V. alaskaense |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 349. (1753) | Smith: in A. Rees, Cycl. 36: Vaccinium no. 2. (1817) |
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