Vaccinium floribundum

Vaccinium floribundum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Ericaceae
Genus:	Vaccinium
Species:	V. floribundum
Binomial name
Vaccinium floribundum Kunth 1819
Synonyms[1]
Synonymy Epigynium floribundum Klotzsch Metagonia marginata (Dunal) Nutt. Vaccinium crenulatum Dunal Vaccinium dasygynum S.F. Blake Vaccinium leiandrum S.F.Blake Vaccinium marginatum Dunal Vaccinium moritzianum Klotzsch Vaccinium mortinia Benth. Vaccinium polystachyum Benth. Vaccinium ramosissimum Dunal Vaccinium tatei Rusby Vaccinium thymifolium Klotzsch

Vaccinium floribundum, commonly known as mortiño or Andean blueberry, is a slender shrub that grows in the northern Andes in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela at elevations from 1,800 to 3,800 metres (5,900 to 12,500 ft). It can reach 2–3 m (6 ft 7 in–9 ft 10 in) high or it can be dwarf and prostrate. The plant produces an edible fruit, a round berry that is bluish black and glaucous, that is collected and eaten raw and used in preserves. It is sold at some markets and is used for a dish celebrating the Day of the Dead along with spices and other chopped fruits.^[2]

References

1. The Plant List, Vaccinium floribundum Kunth
2. "Berries." Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 1989.

• photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in Peru in 2012