Vaccinium ovalifolium |
Vaccinium scoparium |
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airelle à feuilles ovées, Alaska blueberry, early blueberry, oval-leaf blueberry, oval-leaf huckleberry |
grouse whortleberry, grouseberry, little-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. | Plants forming extensive colonies, 0.7–2 dm, rhizomatous; twigs green, angled, glabrous; ultimate branches compact, often forming broomlike clumps or tufts. |
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 pale green abaxially, elliptic, lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, 7–11 × 4–6 mm, margins finely serrulate, surfaces glabrous. |
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 pale green, lobes vestigial, glabrous; corolla pink, globose to urceolate, 3–4 × 3–4 mm, thin, glaucous; filaments glabrous. |
Berries | blue, dull purplish black, or black, sometimes glaucous, 8–10 mm diam. |
red, ± translucent, or bluish purple, 4–6 mm diam. |
Seeds | ca. 1 mm. |
ca. 1 mm. |
2n | = 24, 48. |
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Vaccinium ovalifolium |
Vaccinium scoparium |
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Phenology | Flowering spring-mid summer(-late summer). | Flowering early-mid 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 | Alpine and subalpine meadows, heaths, talus slopes |
Elevation | 0-2100 m (0-6900 ft) | 700-3000 m (2300-9800 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; ID; MI; OR; SD; WA; AB; BC; NF; NS; ON; QC; YT; e Asia (c Japan, Kamchatka)
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CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
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Discussion | The soft, tart, bright red berries of Vaccinium scoparium, to 6 mm diameter, have fair to good flavor and were gathered and eaten raw by the Kootenay, Okanogan, Shuswap, and other Indian tribes. Harvesting was probably done using wooden or fish-bone combs. Small fruit size, low yields, and difficult harvesting make commercial prospects for V. scoparium questionable. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 524. | FNA vol. 8, p. 522. |
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | V. alaskaense | V. myrtillus var. microphyllum, V. erythrococcum |
Name authority | Smith: in A. Rees, Cycl. 36: Vaccinium no. 2. (1817) | Leiberg ex Coville: Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 5: 103. 1897 , |
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