Flora of North America species comparison

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Vaccinium uliginosum

Vaccinium ovatum

airelle des marécages, alpine blueberry, blueberry, bog bilberry, bog blueberry

California huckleberry, evergreen huckelberry, evergreen huckleberry, winter huckleberry
Habit Plants forming dense mats or open, extensive colonies; twigs of current season pale green, terete, glabrous or faintly puberulent, not verrucose. Plants clump- or crown-forming; twigs ± terete, pilose.
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 pale green abaxially, lustrous dark green adaxially, narrowly ovate, 21–29 × 8–12 mm, coriaceous, margins sharply serrate, surfaces glandular abaxially.
Flowers

sepals usually distinct;

corolla white to pink, 3–4(–5) mm, lobes 0.3–0.4 mm;

filaments glabrous.

corolla pinkish, 3–5 mm;

filaments hairy.
Berries

blue, 6–8 mm diam., glaucous.

black or blue, 6–8 mm diam. 2n = 24.
2n

= 24, 48, 72.

Vaccinium uliginosum

Vaccinium ovatum
Phenology Flowering Jun–Jul. Flowering early spring-mid summer.
Habitat Wet or dry acidic sites in boreal taiga, tundras, and alpine thickets and krummholz Edges of coniferous forests, also epiphytic on trunks of redwoods
Elevation 0-2200 m (0-7200 ft) 0-30 m (0-100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
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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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 518. FNA vol. 8, p. 530.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Vaccinium Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Pyxothamnus
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. tenellum, 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. oxycoccos, V. pallidum, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, V. stamineum, V. tenellum, V. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
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. ovatum var. saporosum
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 350. 1753 , Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 290. 1813 ,
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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