Vaccinium ovalifolium |
Ericaceae subfam. vaccinioideae |
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airelle à feuilles ovées, Alaska blueberry, early blueberry, oval-leaf blueberry, oval-leaf huckleberry |
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Habit | 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. | |
Stems | erect, arching, spreading, creeping, or procumbent. |
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Leaves | 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). |
deciduous or persistent, alternate, sometimes pseudoverticillate (Pieris); petiole usually present, sometimes absent (some species of Vaccinium); blade plane, abaxial groove absent. |
Inflorescences | usually axillary, sometimes terminal, usually panicles or racemes, sometimes corymbs or fascicles, sometimes solitary flowers, (borne on leafy twigs, except Zenobia on leafless twigs); perulae absent; bracts much shorter than sepals (sometimes absent). |
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Flowers | 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. |
pendulous; perianth and androecium hypogynous or epigynous (Gaylussacia, Vaccinium); sepals (4-)5[-8]; petals 4-5(-6), connate (rarely distinct or nearly so in some species of Vaccinium), corolla deciduous, campanulate, cylindric, or urceolate, lobes usually much shorter (sometimes longer) than tube; intrastaminal nectary disc absent or present; stamens 8-10[-16]; anthers dehiscent by terminal pores or short slits; ovary 5- or 10-locular; placentation axile; style straight. |
Fruits | capsular, dehiscence loculicidal, or baccate or drupaceous, indehiscent. |
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Berries | blue, dull purplish black, or black, sometimes glaucous, 8–10 mm diam. |
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Seeds | ca. 1 mm. |
2-300, distinct, ovoid or obovoid to ellipsoid, lanceoloid, or conic, to angular or wedge- or crescent-shaped, usually not winged, sometimes slightly winged or tailed. |
2n | = 24, 48. |
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Vaccinium ovalifolium |
Ericaceae subfam. vaccinioideae |
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Phenology | Flowering spring-mid summer(-late summer). | |
Habitat | 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 | 0-2100 m (0-6900 ft) | |
Distribution |
AK; ID; MI; OR; SD; WA; AB; BC; NF; NS; ON; QC; YT; e Asia (c Japan, Kamchatka)
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Nearly worldwide; especially arctic; temperate; and alpine areas; also very diverse in neotropical cloud forests |
Discussion | Genera 46, species ca. 1600 (12 genera, 58 species in the flora) (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 524. | FNA vol. 8, p. 496. |
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus | Ericaceae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | V. alaskaense | |
Name authority | Smith: in A. Rees, Cycl. 36: Vaccinium no. 2. (1817) | Arnott: M. Napier, Encycl. Brit. ed. 7 5: 118. (1832) — (as Vaccinieae) |
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