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California huckleberry, evergreen huckelberry, evergreen huckleberry, winter huckleberry

creeping blueberry

Habit Plants clump- or crown-forming; twigs ± terete, pilose. Plants extensively mat-forming (often by layering), with erect branches from lateral buds, rooting and/or swelling into woody burls at nodes; twigs of current year reddish green, terete, finely hairy, not verrucose.
Leaf

blades pale green abaxially, lustrous dark green adaxially, narrowly ovate, 21–29 × 8–12 mm, coriaceous, margins sharply serrate, surfaces glandular abaxially.

blades dark green, elliptic to obovate, (10–)12–15(–39) × (4–)5–7(–24) mm, coriaceous, margins ± entire, surfaces glabrescent.

Pedicels

0.1–0.3 cm.

Flowers

corolla pinkish, 3–5 mm;

filaments hairy.

calyx lobes distinct;

corolla usually white, 3–5 mm;

filaments ciliate.

Berries

black or blue, 6–8 mm diam. 2n = 24.

black, 6–8 mm diam., insipid.

2n

= 24.

Vaccinium ovatum

Vaccinium crassifolium

Phenology Flowering early spring-mid summer. Flowering late spring.
Habitat Edges of coniferous forests, also epiphytic on trunks of redwoods Coastal plain, open pine flatwoods, pine barrens, pocosin ecotones and associated disturbed areas, road cuts, fire trails, mown roadsides
Elevation 0-30 m (0-100 ft) 0-200 m (0-700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
GA; NC; SC; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 530. FNA vol. 8, p. 525.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Pyxothamnus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Herpothamnus
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. ovalifolium, 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. darrowii, V. deliciosum, V. erythrocarpum, V. hirsutum, V. macrocarpon, V. membranaceum, 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. ovatum var. saporosum Herpothamnus crassifolius, V. crassifolium subsp. sempervirens, V. sempervirens
Name authority Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 290. 1813 , Andrews: Bot. Repos. 2: plate 105. (1800)
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