Flora of North America species comparison

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Vaccinium tenellum

Vaccinium myrsinites

small black blueberry, southern blueberry

Florida evergreen blueberry, shiny blueberry
Habit Plants forming extensive, open colonies, 1–7.5 dm; twigs yellowish green, ± terete, hairy. Plants forming extensive open colonies, 1.4–10 dm; twigs bright green, ± angled, hairy in lines.
Leaves

deciduous, rarely persistent;

blade green, spatulate to elliptic, 13–40 × 3–17 mm, subcoriaceous, margins sharply to obscurely serrate, surfaces glandular abaxially, hairy especially when young, rarely glabrous.

persistent for 1+ years;

blade green, elliptic, 5–9 × 3–5 mm, coriaceous, margins ± serrulate, surfaces glandular abaxially.
Flowers

calyx pale green, sometimes hairy;

corolla usually white tinged with pink, cylindric, 5–9 mm;

filaments ± hairy.

calyx pinkish white, becoming greenish, glabrous;

corolla white to pink or red, ± urceolate, 4–8 mm;

filaments ciliate along margins.
Berries

black, 6–8 mm diam., sometimes puberulent.

black, 7–9 mm diam., glabrous.
Seeds

5–25, ca. 1 mm.

4–13, ca. 1 mm.
2n

= 24.

= 24, 48.

Vaccinium tenellum

Vaccinium myrsinites
Phenology Flowering winter–spring. Flowering winter–spring.
Habitat Dry sand hills, pine barrens, scrubby oak woods, open pine parkland, and flatwoods subject to burning Flatwoods, sand-pine scrub, oak-palmetto scrub, scrubby flatwoods, rosemary balds
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft) 0-30 m (0-100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; SC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 528. FNA vol. 8, p. 527.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus
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. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. pallidum, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. stamineum, 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. membranaceum, 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 Cyanococcus tenellus Cyanococcus myrsinites, V. nitidum
Name authority Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 12. 1789 , Lamarck: in J. Lamarck et al., Encycl. 1: 73. (1783)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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