Flora of North America species comparison

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Vaccinium tenellum

Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus

small black blueberry, southern blueberry
Habit Plants forming extensive, open colonies, 1–7.5 dm; twigs yellowish green, ± terete, hairy. Shrubs, usually erect, 0.1-50 dm, rhizomatous, (twigs of previous season verrucose, perennating buds dimorphic).
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.

usually deciduous, rarely persistent, (abaxial surface hairy or glabrous, adaxial surface usually glabrous).
Inflorescences

corymbs, terminal on axillary shoots from buds of previous season.
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 5, connate for nearly their entire lengths, corolla urceolate to cylindric;

stamens 10, included;

anthers without awns, tubules 2-4 mm, with terminal pores.
Berries

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

pseudo 10-locular.
Seeds

5–25, ca. 1 mm.

(4-)10-25(-40).
2n

= 24.

= 24, 48, 72.

Vaccinium tenellum

Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus
Phenology Flowering winter–spring.
Habitat Dry sand hills, pine barrens, scrubby oak woods, open pine parkland, and flatwoods subject to burning
Elevation 0-200 m (0-700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
North America
Discussion

Species 9 (9 in the flora).

Section Cyanococcus contains populations that are all homoploids, regardless of species, and are interfertile; naturally occurring hybrids have been described (S. P. Vander Kloet 1988 and references therein). The blueberries are endemic to North America; large-scale plantings elsewhere have resulted in the establishment of adventive populations.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 528. FNA vol. 8, p. 526.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium
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
Subordinate taxa
Synonyms Cyanococcus tenellus
Name authority Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 12. 1789 , A. Gray: Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 3: 53. (1846)
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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