Vaccinium uliginosum
Vaccinium scoparium
airelle des marécages, alpine blueberry, blueberry, bog bilberry, bog blueberry
grouse whortleberry, grouseberry, little-leaf huckleberry
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, elliptic, lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, 7–11 × 4–6 mm, margins finely serrulate, surfaces glabrous.
sepals usually distinct;
corolla white to pink, 3–4(–5) mm, lobes 0.3–0.4 mm;
filaments glabrous.
calyx pale green, lobes vestigial, glabrous;
corolla pink, globose to urceolate, 3–4 × 3–4 mm, thin, glaucous;
filaments glabrous.
blue, 6–8 mm diam., glaucous.
red, ± translucent, or bluish purple, 4–6 mm diam.
ca. 1 mm.
= 24, 48, 72.
Vaccinium uliginosum
Vaccinium scoparium
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 soft, tart, bright red berries of Vaccinium scoparium, to 6 mm diameter, have fair to good flavor and were gathered and eaten raw by the Kootenay, Okanogan, Shuswap, and other Indian tribes. Harvesting was probably done using wooden or fish-bone combs. Small fruit size, low yields, and difficult harvesting make commercial prospects for V. scoparium questionable.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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