Vaccinium uliginosum

Vaccinium uliginosum
Leaves and fruit
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Vaccinium
Species: V. uliginosum
Binomial name
Vaccinium uliginosum
L. 1753
Synonyms[1]

Vaccinium uliginosum (bog bilberry, bog blueberry,[2] northern bilberry or western blueberry[3]) is a Eurasian and North American flowering plant in the genus Vaccinium within the heath family.

Flowers

Distribution

Vaccinium uliginosum is native to cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, at low altitudes in the Arctic, and at high altitudes south to the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Caucasus in Europe, the mountains of Mongolia, northern China, the Korean Peninsula and central Japan in Asia, and the Sierra Nevada in California and the Rocky Mountains in Utah in North America.[4][5][6][7]

It grows on wet acidic soils on heathland, moorland, tundra, and in the understory of coniferous forests, from sea level in the Arctic, up to 3,400 metres (11,200 ft) altitude in the south of the range.

Description

Vaccinium uliginosum is a small deciduous shrub growing to  cm 10–75 centimetres (0.33–2.46 ft) tall, rarely 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall, with brown stems (unlike the green stems of the closely related Bilberry). The leaves are oval, 4–30 millimetres (0.16–1.18 in) long and 2–15 millimetres (0.079–0.591 in) wide, blue-green with pale net-like veins, with a smooth margin and rounded apex.[4]

The flowers are pendulous, urn-shaped, pale pink, 4–6 mm long, produced in mid spring. The fruit is a dark blue-black berry 5–8 millimetres (0.20–0.31 in) diameter, with a white flesh, edible and sweet when ripe in late summer.[4]

Subspecies

Some authors separate them, but these are not considered distinct by all authorities - the subspecies are:

References

  1. ↑ The Plant List, Vaccinium uliginosum L.
  2. ↑ "Vaccinium uliginosum". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  3. ↑ Jepson Flora Project, University of California: Vaccinium uliginosum
  4. 1 2 3 Flora of North America, Vaccinium uliginosum Linnaeus, 1753. Bog bilberry, airelle des marécages
  5. ↑ Flora of China, Vaccinium uliginosum Linnaeus, 1753. 笃斯越桔 du si yue ju
  6. ↑ Altervista Flora Italiana, Falso mirtillo, Vaccinium uliginosum L.
  7. ↑ Biota of North America Program 2014 state-level distribution map
  8. ↑ Lange
  9. ↑ (A.Gray) Hultén

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vaccinium uliginosum.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, May 07, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.