Vaccinium uliginosum |
Vaccinium myrtillus |
|
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airelle des marécages, alpine blueberry, blueberry, bog bilberry, bog blueberry |
bilberry, dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, low bilberry, low blueberry, myrtle blueberry, whortleberry |
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Habit | Plants forming dense mats or open, extensive colonies; twigs of current season pale green, terete, glabrous or faintly puberulent, not verrucose. | Plants forming open colonies, 0.5–12 dm, rhizomatous; twigs green, conspicuously 3-angled, glabrous or minutely puberulent along grooves. |
Leaf | blades usually glaucous abaxially, green to glaucous adaxially, orbiculate, ovate, or obovate to narrowly elliptic, 8–14 × 3–7 mm, membranous, margins entire, surfaces often faintly puberulent, sometimes hairy throughout. |
blades bright green, broadly elliptic or ovate, 19–27 × 7–11 mm, margins sharply serrate, surfaces laxly glandular abaxially. |
Flowers | sepals usually distinct; corolla white to pink, 3–4(–5) mm, lobes 0.3–0.4 mm; filaments glabrous. |
calyx green, lobes ± recurved (or absent and margins of tube sinuate), deltate, 0.4–0.6 mm, glabrous; corolla pink, cream, or greenish white, globose, 3–5 × 5–7 mm, thin, glaucous; filaments glabrous. |
Berries | blue, 6–8 mm diam., glaucous. |
purple-black or bluish black, rarely reddish or red, 7–9 mm diam. |
Seeds | ca. 1 mm. |
|
2n | = 24, 48, 72. |
= 24, 48. |
Vaccinium uliginosum |
Vaccinium myrtillus |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Jul. | Flowering late spring–summer. |
Habitat | Wet or dry acidic sites in boreal taiga, tundras, and alpine thickets and krummholz | Heaths, montane heaths, boggy barrens, degraded meadows, open coniferous forests, oak parklands, disturbed or open birch woods, hummocky seepage slopes, moraines |
Elevation | 0-2200 m (0-7200 ft) | 0-2600 m (0-8500 ft) |
Distribution |
AK; CA; ID; ME; MI; MN; MT; NH; NV; NY; OR; UT; VT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM; Greenland; n Eurasia
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AZ; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; AB; BC; Greenland; Europe; e Asia (Japan)
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Discussion | Vaccinium uliginosum is transcontinental in North America between 60° and 70° north latitude; farther north it is rare, especially in the Queen Elizabeth Islands. To the southwest, it is found as far as northern California and northwestern Utah. The summits of the White Mountains of New Hampshire form its southernmost limit in eastern North America. This wide-ranging plant shows considerable variation, notably in floral morphology. Subspecies have been recognized (cf. S. B. Young 1970); a review of morphological variation by H. J. Warr (1981) did not support the distinctiveness of infraspecific taxa. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Vaccinium myrtillus fruits are popular in Europe and are known to possess antioxidants and other compounds beneficial to vascular health. Berries in Europe are extensively harvested from wild stands. In North America, the fruits were used by the Kootenai, Carrier, Shuswap, and other native tribes. The small plant and fruit sizes create challenges for commercialization in North America. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 8, p. 518. | FNA vol. 8, p. 523. |
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Vaccinium | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Myrtillus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | V. gaultherioides, V. occidentale, V. uliginosum subsp. alpinum, V. uliginosum var. alpinum, V. uliginosum subsp. gaultherioides, V. uliginosum subsp. microphyllum, V. uliginosum subsp. occidentale, V. uliginosum var. occidentale, V. uliginosum subsp. pedris, V. uliginosum subsp. pubescens, V. uliginosum var. salicinum | V. myrtillus subsp. oreophilum, V. myrtillus var. oreophilum, V. oreophilum |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 350. 1753 , | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 349. (1753) |
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