Flora of North America species comparison

erect, twigs glabrous.

erect, arching, spreading, creeping, or procumbent.

deciduous to semipersistent;

blade elliptic to elliptic-ovate or ovate, coriaceous, margins irregularly and shallowly serrulate-crenulate or entire, plane, surfaces finely hairy, glabrescent;

venation reticulodromous or brochidodromous.

deciduous or persistent, alternate, sometimes pseudoverticillate (Pieris);

petiole usually present, sometimes absent (some species of Vaccinium);

blade plane, abaxial groove absent.

axillary racemes of (2–)5–12-flowered corymbs, or solitary flowers, borne on leafless stems.

usually axillary, sometimes terminal, usually panicles or racemes, sometimes corymbs or fascicles, sometimes solitary flowers, (borne on leafy twigs, except Zenobia on leafless twigs);

perulae absent;

bracts much shorter than sepals (sometimes absent).

sepals 5, distinct, ovate to ovate-deltate;

petals 5, connate ca. 3/4 their lengths, white, corolla broadly campanulate, lobes much shorter than tube;

stamens 10, included;

filaments straight, flattened, dilated proximally, glabrous, without spurs;

anthers with 4 awns, dehiscent by oblong pores, (disintegration tissue present in connective);

pistil 5-carpellate;

ovary 5-locular;

stigma truncate.

pendulous;

perianth and androecium hypogynous or epigynous (Gaylussacia, Vaccinium);

sepals (4-)5[-8];

petals 4-5(-6), connate (rarely distinct or nearly so in some species of Vaccinium), corolla deciduous, campanulate, cylindric, or urceolate, lobes usually much shorter (sometimes longer) than tube;

intrastaminal nectary disc absent or present;

stamens 8-10[-16];

anthers dehiscent by terminal pores or short slits;

ovary 5- or 10-locular;

placentation axile;

style straight.

capsular, 5-valved, depressed-globose, dry.

capsular, dehiscence loculicidal, or baccate or drupaceous, indehiscent.

40–200, ovoid;

testa smooth.

2-300, distinct, ovoid or obovoid to ellipsoid, lanceoloid, or conic, to angular or wedge- or crescent-shaped, usually not winged, sometimes slightly winged or tailed.

= 11.