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small black blueberry, southern blueberry

Blue Ridge blueberry, Blue Ridge or late low-bush blueberry, hillside blueberry, lowbush blueberry

Habit Plants forming extensive, open colonies, 1–7.5 dm; twigs yellowish green, ± terete, hairy. Shrubs, erect, (3–)4–12(–40) dm, rhizomatous, (twigs of previous year not verrucose).
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.

Inflorescences

terminal, racemes, on lateral twigs, on previous year’s shoots or older woody stems.

Pedicels

articulated with calyx tube.

Flowers

calyx pale green, sometimes hairy;

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

filaments ± hairy.

sepals 5;

petals 4–5, connate for nearly their entire lengths, corolla cylindric or urceolate;

stamens 10, included;

anthers ± without awns, tubules 1–1.5 mm, with terminal pores.

Berries

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

[4-], 5-, [pseudo 8-, or pseudo 10]-locular.

Seeds

5–25, ca. 1 mm.

10–25, (ca. 1 mm).

2n

= 24.

Vaccinium tenellum

Vaccinium pallidum

Phenology Flowering winter–spring. Flowering mid-late spring.
Habitat Dry sand hills, pine barrens, scrubby oak woods, open pine parkland, and flatwoods subject to burning Dry, open oak or oak- hickory woods, open pine woods, ledges, abandoned farmland or cut-over deciduous forests
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft) 0-1600 m (0-5200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC; VA
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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON
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Discussion

The flowers of Vaccinium pallidum are visited primarily by Andrena carlini Cockerell and Bombus spp. This species occasionally hybridizes with V. angustifolium, yielding V. ×dobbinii Burnham.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

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. myrtilloides, V. myrtillus, V. ovalifolium, V. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
Synonyms Cyanococcus tenellus Cyanococcus liparis, Cyanococcus margarettae, Cyanococcus pallidus, Cyanococcus subcordatus, Cyanococcus tallapusae, Cyanococcus vacillans, V. altomontanum, V. corymbosum var. pallidum, V. margarettae, V. vacillans, V. vacillans var. crinitum, V. vacillans var. missouriense, V. viride
Name authority Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 12. 1789 , Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 10. 1789 ,
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