Vaccinium parvifolium |
Vaccinium corymbosum |
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red huckleberry |
bleuet en corymbe, high-bush blueberry, highbush huckleberry, New Jersey blueberry, smallflower blueberry, southern blueberry |
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Habit | Plants crown-forming, sometimes suckering when injured, 10–70 dm, not rhizomatous; twigs of current season green, sharply angled, glabrous or minutely puberulent in lines; (short lateral branches on both orthotropic and plagiotropic shoots often divaricate to 75° giving shrub a distinct fasciculate aspect). | Plants erect, not colonial, sometimes suckering, 10–50 dm; twigs green, angular to terete, usually hairy in lines. |
Leaves | blades dark green, ovate to oblong-elliptic, 13–25 × 8–14 mm, margins entire, surfaces puberulent or glabrous abaxially, glabrous adaxially. |
usually deciduous; blade dark green, ovate to narrowly elliptic, 15–70 × 10–25 mm, subcoriaceous, margins sharply serrate or entire, surfaces glabrous or hairy abaxially. |
Flowers | calyx pale green, lobes spreading, distinct, broadly ovate, 0.4–0.6 mm, glabrous; corolla pink, bronze, or yellowish green, globose to urceolate, 4–6 × 3–5 mm, thin, glaucous; filaments glabrous. |
calyx green, glabrous; corolla white to pink, ± cylindric, 5–12 mm; filaments usually ciliate. |
Berries | red, sometimes faintly glaucous, translucent, 7–10 mm diam. |
dull black to blue, glaucous, 4–12 mm diam., glabrous. |
Seeds | ca. 1 mm. |
10–20(–25), ca. 1.2 mm. |
2n | = 24. |
= 24, 48, 72. |
Vaccinium parvifolium |
Vaccinium corymbosum |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–summer. | Flowering spring(-early summer). |
Habitat | Coniferous woods, often on stumps and logs, disturbed areas | Open swamps, bogs, sandy margins of lakes, ponds, and streams, flatwoods, gray-birch scrub, pine barrens, mires, bay heads, upland ericaceous meadows, upland woods, ravines, mountain summits |
Elevation | 0-1100 m (0-3600 ft) | 0-1600 m (0-5200 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; CA; OR; WA; BC
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AL; CT; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; BC; NB; NS; ON; QC [Introduced in Europe (Britain, The Netherlands), e Asia (Japan), Pacific Islands (New Zealand)]
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Discussion | The red, waxy fruits of Vaccinium parvifolium were popular with all coastal Indian tribes and remain so with recreational pickers. The berries are somewhat sour but make excellent pastries and preserves. Commercial use of V. parvifolium is limited; vigorous growth, ease of harvest, and site adaptability provide opportunities. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Every morphological variant of the high-bush blueberry has been named formally at one time or another. At least 25 such taxa have been raised to specific rank; none is distinct throughout its putative range nor has the properties normally associated with biological species, including Vaccinium atrococcum and V. elliottii. See S. P. Vander Kloet (1980) for a complete list of synonyms. Feral populations readily become established wherever cultivars have been planted, e.g., Britain, British Columbia, Japan, Missouri, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Washington, and Wisconsin. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 522. | FNA vol. 8, p. 526. |
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Cyanococcus amoenus, Cyanococcus atrococcus, Cyanococcus corymbosus, Cyanococcus cuthbertii, Cyanococcus elliottii, Cyanococcus fuscatus, Cyanococcus holophyllus, Cyanococcus margarettae, Cyanococcus simulatus, Cyanococcus virgatus, V. amoenum, V. atrococcum, V. australe, V. constablaei, V. corymbosum var. albiflorum, V. corymbosum var. glabrum, V. elliottii, V. formosum, V. fuscatum, V. simulatum, V. virgatum | |
Name authority | Smith: in A. Rees, Cycl. 36: Vaccinium no. 3. 1817 , | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 350. (1753) |
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