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airelle à feuilles ovées, Alaska blueberry, early blueberry, oval-leaf blueberry, oval-leaf huckleberry

big huckleberry, black blueberry, black huckleberry, mountain huckleberry, square-twig blueberry, tall huckleberry, thin-leaf huckleberry

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. Plants forming small to extensive clumps, rarely crown-forming, 2–30 dm, not rhizomatous; twigs of current season yellow-green or reddish green, terete to slightly angled, glabrous or hairy in lines.
Leaf

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).

blades usually green, broadly elliptic to ovate, 25–50 × 11–23 mm, margins sharply serrate, surfaces glandular abaxially.

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.

calyx green, obscurely lobed, glabrous;

corolla white, cream, yellowish pink, or bronze, globose to urceolate, 3–5 × 5–7 mm, thin, glaucous;

filaments glabrous.

Berries

blue, dull purplish black, or black, sometimes glaucous, 8–10 mm diam.

shiny or dull black or deep purple, rarely red or white, 9–13 mm diam.

Seeds

ca. 1 mm.

ca. 1 mm.

2n

= 24, 48.

= 48.

Vaccinium ovalifolium

Vaccinium membranaceum

Phenology Flowering spring-mid summer(-late summer). Flowering late spring–early 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 Coniferous woods, especially cut-over stands, talus slopes, subalpine fir forests, alpine heaths
Elevation 0-2100 m (0-6900 ft) 900-3500 m (3000-11500 ft)
Distribution
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]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MI; MT; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; ON
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Vaccinium membranaceum is, by far, the most widely commercially utilized western huckleberry for fruit and is harvested extensively from the wild. This species served as an especially important source of food for native peoples throughout western North America, and the dried berries were used for winter food and trade.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 524. FNA vol. 8, p. 523.
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. myrtillus, 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. myrsinites, V. myrtilloides, V. myrtillus, V. ovalifolium, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. pallidum, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
Synonyms V. alaskaense V. coccineum, V. globulare, V. membranaceum var. rigidum
Name authority Smith: in A. Rees, Cycl. 36: Vaccinium no. 2. (1817) Douglas ex Torrey: in C. Wilkes et al., U.S. Expl. Exped. 17: 377. (1874)
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