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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

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

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
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
AK; ID; MI; OR; SD; WA; AB; BC; NF; NS; ON; QC; YT; e Asia (c Japan, Kamchatka)
[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.)

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
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. 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. myrtillus, 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. alaskaense
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 349. (1753) Smith: in A. Rees, Cycl. 36: Vaccinium no. 2. (1817)
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