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

hairy blueberry, small cluster blueberry, woolly berry, wooly berry

Habit Plants densely colonial, frequently mat-forming; twigs of previous year green, terete, puberulent, not verrucose. Plants forming open colonies, 2–5(–7.5) dm; twigs green, slightly angled, pilose or hairy.
Leaves

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

deciduous;

blade green, elliptic, 23–62 × 10–36 mm, subcoriaceous, margins entire, surfaces densely hairy, eglandular abaxially.

Pedicels

4–6 mm.

Flowers

corolla pinkish white, 3–5 mm;

filaments puberulent.

calyx green, glandular-hairy;

corolla white, cylindric, 5–9 mm, (glandular-hairy);

filaments hairy.

Berries

red, 8–10 mm diam. 2n = 24.

black, 7–9 mm diam., hairy.

Seeds

3–9, ca. 1 mm.

2n

= 48.

Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Vaccinium hirsutum

Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer. Flowering summer.
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 Dry oak-pine ridges and mountain meadows
Elevation 0-1800 m (0-5900 ft) 600-1500 m (2000-4900 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
GA; NC; TN
[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.)

Vaccinium hirsutum is uncommon (but not threatened) in Tennessee, rare in North Carolina, and probably extirpated in Georgia.

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

Source FNA vol. 8, p. 520. FNA vol. 8, p. 529.
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. darrowii, V. deliciosum, V. erythrocarpum, 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 Cyanococcus hirsutus
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 351. (1753) Buckley: Amer. J. Sci. Arts 45: 175. 1843 ,
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