Flora of North America species comparison

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Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Vaccinium stamineum

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

deerberry, southern gooseberry
Habit Plants densely colonial, frequently mat-forming; twigs of previous year green, terete, 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 pale and glandular abaxially, bright green adaxially, elliptic to obovate, 5–18 × 3–9 mm, glaucous-coriaceous, margins entire, slightly revolute.

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

4–6 mm.

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

corolla pinkish white, 3–5 mm;

filaments puberulent.

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

filaments glabrous or hairy.
Berries

red, 8–10 mm diam. 2n = 24.

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

= 24.

Vaccinium vitis-idaea

Vaccinium stamineum
Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer. Flowering spring(-early 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 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 0-1800 m (0-5900 ft) 0-1700 m (0-5600 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
[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

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 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. 520. FNA vol. 8, p. 521.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Vaccinioideae > Vaccinium > sect. Vitis-idaea 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. uliginosum
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. vitis-idaea subsp. minus, V. vitis-idaea var. minus 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: 351. (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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