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airelle vigne-d'ida, cowberry, foxberry, lingonberry, mountain cranberry, northern mountain cranberry, partridgeberry

Darrow's blueberry, Darrow's evergreen blueberry, southern highbush blueberry

Habit Plants densely colonial, frequently mat-forming; twigs of previous year green, terete, puberulent, not verrucose. Plants forming extensive open colonies, 1–15 dm; twigs pale green, glaucous, ± terete, puberulent.
Leaves

blades pale and glandular abaxially, bright green adaxially, elliptic to obovate, 5–18 × 3–9 mm, glaucous-coriaceous, margins entire, slightly revolute.

persistent for 1+ years;

blade usually pale green abaxially, dark green adaxially, elliptic, 7–11 × 3–5 mm, coriaceous, margins entire, (often inrolled), surfaces usually glabrous abaxially (rarely minutely hairy along midvein).

Pedicels

4–6 mm.

Flowers

corolla pinkish white, 3–5 mm;

filaments puberulent.

calyx greenish, glabrous;

corolla white tinged with pink or red, ± urceolate, 4–6 mm;

filaments ciliate.

Berries

red, 8–10 mm diam. 2n = 24.

blue, glaucous, 8–10 mm diam., glabrous.

Seeds

10–20, ca. 1 mm.

2n

= 24.

Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Vaccinium darrowii

Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer. Flowering winter–spring.
Habitat Boreal taiga in jack-pine stands, muskegs, raised bogs, dry, rocky barrens, lichen woodlands, exposed habitats, heaths, high moors, headlands, tundras, cliffs, mountain summits Low flatwoods, scrubby flatwoods, oak-scrub, palmetto scrubs and swales
Elevation 0-1800 m (0-5900 ft) 0-30 m (0-100 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CT; MA; ME; MI; MN; NH; VT; WI; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM; Greenland; n Eurasia; circumboreal
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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

The distribution of Vaccinium vitis-idaea in North America extends from northwestern Greenland at 77° north latitude, south to Connecticut at 42° north latitude, and from 45° west longitude (southern tip of Greenland) west to 170° west longitude (Aleutian Islands); it is rare in Connecticut (not collected since the late 1800s), Massachusetts, Vermont, and Wisconsin. This species has been erroneously reported from New York; it hybridizes with V. myrtillus in northern Europe, producing V. ×intermedium Ruthe. The hybrid might be anticipated in North America, but the two species are not known to occur together anywhere in the flora area.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 520. FNA vol. 8, p. 527.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Vitis-idaea Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Cyanococcus
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. uliginosum
V. angustifolium, V. arboreum, V. boreale, V. cespitosum, V. corymbosum, V. crassifolium, 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. uliginosum, V. vitis-idaea
Synonyms V. vitis-idaea subsp. minus, V. vitis-idaea var. minus V. myrsinites var. glaucum
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 351. (1753) Camp: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 69: 240. 1942 (as darrowi) ,
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