Vaccinium uliginosum - (image 1 of 4)
Taxonomy
Family: Ericaceae
Habitat
Alpine bogs, mountain summits, ridges, or ledges.
Associates
Distribution
Circumboreal, south to northern New England, northern NY, and northern MI.
Morphology
Low, diffuse or matted, stoloniferous shrub; leaves glaucous, firm, elliptic to oblong-obovate, blunt, entire; flowers mostly 4-merous, in clusters of 1-4 from axils of bud scales; sepals ovate or triangular, 1 mm; corolla pink, ovoid; anthers spurred; fruit dark blue or black, sweet.
Notes
Flowers June to July.
Wetland indicator: FAC
Unlike most other 'lowbush' blueberries, this species has flowers with parts in 4's rather than 5's. This is evident even in fruit. In NY it only occurs on mountain summits in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks.
References
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
USDA, NRCS. 2002. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov).
National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
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Michael Hough © 2018 |