Flora of North America species comparison

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Vaccinium uliginosum

Vaccinium stamineum

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

deerberry, southern gooseberry
Habit Plants forming dense mats or open, extensive colonies; twigs of current season pale green, terete, glabrous or faintly puberulent, not verrucose. Plants frequently crown-forming, suckering when disturbed, forming small or extensive colonies; twigs of current season variously colored, most often green or glaucous, glabrous to densely hairy, sometimes pilose or glandular (not verrucose).
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 usually pale green or glaucous abaxially, green adaxially, elliptic, 20–80 × 9–32 mm, ± membranous, margins usually entire, inrolled on more-coriaceous blades, surfaces glabrous or densely hairy, rarely glandular.
Inflorescences

2–7-flowered, sometimes flowers solitary.
Pedicels

subtended by leaflike bract (ca. as long as flower).
Flowers

sepals usually distinct;

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

filaments glabrous.

corolla lobes spreading at anthesis, white to greenish white, sometimes purple veined, 4–8 mm;

filaments glabrous or hairy.
Berries

blue, 6–8 mm diam., glaucous.

green, yellow-green, yellow, purple, or black, often lightly glaucous, 7–18 mm diam., sometimes hairy and sparsely glandular.
2n

= 24, 48, 72.

= 24.

Vaccinium uliginosum

Vaccinium stamineum
Phenology Flowering Jun–Jul. Flowering spring(-early summer).
Habitat Wet or dry acidic sites in boreal taiga, tundras, and alpine thickets and krummholz Sandy, well-drained soil, xeric communities such as dry oak woods, pine barrens, savannas, dry pine ridges, sparsely wooded bluffs, sand hills, thickets, clearings (usually on acidic substrates, sometimes on limestone)
Elevation 0-2200 m (0-7200 ft) 0-1700 m (0-5600 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
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV; ON; Mexico (Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí)
[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.)

Vaccinium stamineum has been subject to an inordinate amount of splitting, especially by E. L. Greene and W. W. Ashe (see S. P. Vander Kloet 1988).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 518. FNA vol. 8, p. 521.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Vaccinium Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Polycodium
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. ovatum, V. oxycoccos, V. pallidum, V. parvifolium, V. scoparium, 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 Polycodium ashei, Polycodium candicans, Polycodium depressum, Polycodium floridanum, Polycodium leptosepalum, Polycodium macilentum, Polycodium melanocarpum, Polycodium neglectum, Polycodium stamineum, V. caesium, V. melanocarpum, V. neglectum, V. stamineum var. affine, V. stamineum var. austromontanum, V. stamineum var. interius, V. stamineum var. melanocarpum, V. stamineum var. neglectum, V. stamineum var. virginianum
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 350. 1753 , Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 350. 1753 ,
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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