| Vaccinium caesariense New Jersey blueberry | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Ericaceae |
| Genus: | Vaccinium |
| Species: | V. caesariense |
| Binomial name | |
| Vaccinium caesariense | |
Vaccinium caesariense (New Jersey blueberry) is native to the Eastern United States. It is a species in the genus Vaccinium , which includes blueberries, cranberries, huckleberry, and bilberries.
Vaccinium caesariense is a native perennial plant in the Eastern United States, and is especially prominent in the New Jersey area, hence its common name New Jersey Blueberry. It is found in the coastal states from Florida to New Hampshire, almost always in wetlands. [1] [2] Some of its native habitats include pine barrens, mires, upland meadows and woods, ravines, and mountain summits. [3]
Vaccinium caesariense has simple, small, oval green leaves during the summer and loses its leaves in the winter. This dicot exhibits a shrub growth habit, meaning this perennial, multi-stemmed woody plant is not likely to grow larger than 5 meters in height, particularly due to its numerous steming arrangements.
In commercial cultivation of Vaccinium caesariense, they are usually planted at the beginning of Fall or the end of Winter, with organic fertilizers such as manure compost and vermicompost. [4] As the plants develop woody stems irrigation is only needed during very dry periods. The cultivated plants are grown in soil that is accommodating to acidophilic plants. [4]
Native Americans harvested the wild blueberries. Their special use in the plant is its function as a dye, coloring items. It is also known as a medication for ailing stomach issues. [5] Early Euro-American immigrant settlers began incorporating the fruit as an ingredient in foods and as a medicine.
New Jersey has developed environmental and agricultural programs to protect and develop the New Jersey Blueberry, such as the Blueberry Plant Certification Program and the Phillip E. Marucci Center for Blueberry & Cranberry Research & Extension.
The New Jersey legislature issued a Proclamation for its native plant: [6]
- "Whereas, The highbush blueberry is indigenous to New Jersey, where it was first cultivated for commercial production, due to pioneering work by New Jerseyan Elizabeth White and Dr. Frederick Coville, who in the early 1900s dedicated themselves to the study, domestication, and breeding of blueberries at Whitesbog, in Browns Mills, New Jersey; and
- Whereas, the cultivation of highbush blueberries in New Jersey served as the basis for an entirely new agricultural industry; and
- Whereas, Blueberries taste good, are good for you, are high in fiber, vitamin C, and antioxidants, are sodium and cholesterol-free, are low in calories and provide medical and health benefits, including the prevention of cancer and heart disease; and
- Whereas, Blueberries are appreciated around the world, especially in the area of nutrition and the emerging field of nutraceuticals, where blueberries are known for their health benefits and medicinal properties; and
- Whereas, New Jersey ranks second in the nation in blueberry cultivation, producing 21% of the nation's total, with 38 million pounds grown annually on 8,000 acres, spanning seven counties in central and southern New Jersey; and
- Whereas, New Jersey is widely recognized as the blueberry capital of the nation, and the highbush blueberry, also known as the "New Jersey blueberry," is the ideal symbol of a delicious, nutritious, and healthful fruit ...
Although the species is still found growing in natural habitats, most of New Jersey's cultivated blueberries are a hybrid Highbush type. It was first developed by Elizabeth Coleman White, the daughter of a cranberry farmer, and introduced in Whitesbog, Burlington County, New Jersey. During harvest season, New Jersey farmers set up road-side farm stands and sell the fresh blueberries. The hybrid fruit, when frozen, maintains quality and taste upon thawing. [5]
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species Vaccinium oxycoccos, while in North America, cranberry may refer to Vaccinium macrocarpon. Vaccinium oxycoccos is cultivated in central and northern Europe, while Vaccinium macrocarpon is cultivated throughout the northern United States, Canada and Chile. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right. They can be found in acidic bogs throughout the cooler regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the culinary sense are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, red currants, white currants and blackcurrants. In Britain, soft fruit is a horticultural term for such fruits.
Vaccinium is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry (whortleberry), lingonberry (cowberry), and huckleberry. Like many other ericaceous plants, they are generally restricted to acidic soils.
Vaccinium macrocarpon, also called large cranberry, American cranberry and bearberry, is a North American species of cranberry in the subgenus Oxycoccus.
Xerophyllum asphodeloides is a North American species of flowering plants in the Melanthiaceae known by the common names turkey beard, eastern turkeybeard, beartongue, grass-leaved helonias, and mountain asphodel. It is native to the eastern United States, where it occurs in the southern Appalachian Mountains from Virginia to Alabama, and also in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.
The Brendan T. Byrne State Forest is a 37,242 acres (150.71 km2) state forest in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Its protected acreage is split between Burlington and Ocean Counties.
Elizabeth Coleman White was a New Jersey agricultural specialist who collaborated with Frederick Vernon Coville to develop and commercialize a cultivated blueberry.
Vaccinium myrtillus or European blueberry is a holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit of blue color, known by the common names bilberry, blaeberry, wimberry, and whortleberry. It is more precisely called common bilberry or blue whortleberry to distinguish it from other Vaccinium relatives.
Vaccinium angustifolium, commonly known as the wild lowbush blueberry, is a species of blueberry native to eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States, growing as far south as the Great Smoky Mountains and west to the Great Lakes region. Vaccinium angustifolium is the most common species of the commercially used wild blueberries and is considered the "low sweet" berry.
Vaccinium corymbosum, the northern highbush blueberry, is a North American species of blueberry which has become a food crop of significant economic importance. It is native to eastern Canada and the eastern and southern United States, from Ontario east to Nova Scotia and south as far as Florida and eastern Texas. It is also naturalized in other places: Europe, Japan, New Zealand, the Pacific Northwest of North America, etc. Other common names include blue huckleberry, tall huckleberry, swamp huckleberry, high blueberry, and swamp blueberry.
Vaccinium darrowii, with the common names Darrow's blueberry, evergreen blueberry, scrub blueberry, is a species of Vaccinium in the blueberry group.
Vaccinium arboreum is a species of Vaccinium native to the southeastern and south-central United States, from southern Virginia west to southeastern Nebraska, south to Florida and eastern Texas, and north to Illinois.
Vaccinium stamineum, commonly known as deerberry, tall deerberry, squaw huckleberry, highbush huckleberry, buckberry, and southern gooseberry, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family. It is native to North America, including Ontario, the eastern and central United States, and parts of Mexico. It is most common in the southeastern United States.
Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium. Vaccinium also includes cranberries, bilberries, huckleberries and Madeira blueberries. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) and cultivated (highbush)—are all native to North America. The highbush varieties were introduced into Europe during the 1930s.
Geocaulon is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Santalaceae containing the single species Geocaulon lividum, which is known by the common names northern comandra and false toadflax. It is native to northern North America, where it is common and widespread from Alaska to Newfoundland and into the northernmost contiguous United States.
Gaylussacia frondosa is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common names dangleberry and blue huckleberry. It is native to the eastern United States, where it occurs from New Hampshire to South Carolina.
Vaccinium pallidum is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common names hillside blueberry, Blue Ridge blueberry, late lowbush blueberry, and early lowbush blueberry. It is native to central Canada (Ontario) and the central and eastern United States plus the Ozarks of Missouri, Arkansas, southeastern Kansas and eastern Oklahoma.
Blueberry shoestring virus (BBSSV) is a disease-causing virus that is commonly transmitted by the aphid vector, Illinoia pepperi. The blueberry shoestring virus disease is very prominent in highbush and lowbush blueberry plants in the northeastern and upper Midwest of the United States. Symptoms can vary significantly depending on the environment, but the most common disease symptoms are reddish streaking on young stems, reduced vigor and strap-shaped leaves. The blueberry shoestring virus disease can be managed by eliminating the aphid vector through the use of biological, chemical or cultural controls. In severe cases, the disease leads to an extensive loss of yield and marketable fruit.
Vaccinium fuscatum, the black highbush blueberry, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family (Ericaceae). It is native to North America, where it is found in Ontario, Canada and the eastern United States. Its typical natural habitat is wet areas such as bogs, pocosins, and swamps.
Vaccinium formosum, with common names highbush blueberry, southern blueberry, southern highbush blueberry, and swamp highbush blueberry, is a species of blueberry that is native to the Southeastern United States.
