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small black blueberry, southern blueberry

bleuet fausse-myrtille, sour-top blueberry, sourtop, velvet-leaf blueberry, velvetleaf huckleberry

Habit Plants forming extensive, open colonies, 1–7.5 dm; twigs yellowish green, ± terete, hairy. Plants forming ± open colonies, 1–11.5 dm; twigs greenish brown, terete, pilose or hairy.
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.

deciduous;

blade green, elliptic, 23–35 × 8–16 mm, membranous to subcoriaceous, margins entire, surfaces ± densely hairy (sometimes mostly on veins), eglandular, sometimes glabrescent.

Flowers

calyx pale green, sometimes hairy;

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

filaments ± hairy.

calyx green, glabrous, (eglandular);

corolla greenish white to pink, urceolate, 3–5 mm, (eglandular);

filaments usually hairy.

Berries

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

blue, glaucous, 6–8 mm diam., glabrous.

Seeds

5–25, ca. 1 mm.

10–40, ca. 1 mm.

2n

= 24.

= 24.

Vaccinium tenellum

Vaccinium myrtilloides

Phenology Flowering winter–spring. Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat Dry sand hills, pine barrens, scrubby oak woods, open pine parkland, and flatwoods subject to burning Open or disturbed sites in boreal forest, muskegs, bogs, barrens, headlands, outcrops, mountain meadows
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft) 0-1700 m (0-5600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CT; IA; IL; IN; MA; ME; MN; MT; NH; NY; OH; PA; VT; WI; WV; AB; BC; LB; MB; NB; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 528. FNA vol. 8, p. 529.
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. myrsinites, 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 canadensis, V. angustifolium var. myrtilloides, V. canadense
Name authority Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 12. 1789 , Michaux: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 234. 1803 ,
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