Vaccinium uliginosum |
Vaccinium pallidum |
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airelle des marécages, alpine blueberry, blueberry, bog bilberry, bog blueberry |
Blue Ridge blueberry, Blue Ridge or late low-bush blueberry, hillside blueberry, lowbush blueberry |
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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. | Shrubs, erect, (3–)4–12(–40) dm, rhizomatous, (twigs of previous year not verrucose). |
Leaves | 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. |
persistent. |
Inflorescences | terminal, racemes, on lateral twigs, on previous year’s shoots or older woody stems. |
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Pedicels | articulated with calyx tube. |
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Flowers | sepals usually distinct; corolla white to pink, 3–4(–5) mm, lobes 0.3–0.4 mm; filaments glabrous. |
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 | blue, 6–8 mm diam., glaucous. |
[4-], 5-, [pseudo 8-, or pseudo 10]-locular. |
Seeds | 10–25, (ca. 1 mm). |
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2n | = 24, 48, 72. |
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Vaccinium uliginosum |
Vaccinium pallidum |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Jul. | Flowering mid-late spring. |
Habitat | Wet or dry acidic sites in boreal taiga, tundras, and alpine thickets and krummholz | Dry, open oak or oak- hickory woods, open pine woods, ledges, abandoned farmland or cut-over deciduous forests |
Elevation | 0-2200 m (0-7200 ft) | 0-1600 m (0-5200 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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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 | 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.) |
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. 518. | FNA vol. 8, p. 529. |
Parent taxa | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Vaccinium | Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus |
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 | 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 | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 350. 1753 , | Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 10. 1789 , |
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