Vaccinium cespitosum

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Vaccinium cespitosum
Vaccinium cespitosum 0806025.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Vaccinium
Species:
V. cespitosum
Binomial name
Vaccinium cespitosum
Michx. 1803
Synonyms [2]
  • Vaccinium caespitosumA.Gray
  • Vaccinium arbuscula(A.Gray) Merriam
  • Vaccinium nivictumCamp

Vaccinium cespitosum (also, caespitosum), known as the dwarf bilberry, dwarf blueberry, or dwarf huckleberry, is a species of flowering shrub in the genus Vaccinium , which includes blueberries, huckleberries, and cranberries.

Contents

Description

Fruit Vaccinium caespitosum 3-eheep (5098011952).jpg
Fruit

Vaccinium cespitosum is a low-lying plant rarely reaching half a meter (1.5 feet) in height which forms a carpet-like stand in rocky mountainous meadows. The dwarf bilberry foliage is reddish-green to green and the flowers are tiny urn-shaped light pink cups less than a centimeter (>0.4 inches) wide. [3] It has many somewhat angled branches. It forms low mats as it spreads on runners or stolons. The flowers are waxy, bell-shaped, and have five united petals. Unlike true blueberries, which flowers are in clusters , the flowers always occur singly. The bloom period is between the months of May to June, where they are pollinated by bees and flies. The dark blue fruit are on the plant by late-summer. The berries also have a whitish bloom. There are many seeds in the fruit. [4]

The fruits are edible blue bilberries. [3] Both grizzly and black bears, and also humans, like eating the fruit. It is a host of the butterfly species Lycaeides idas nabokovi. [4]

Distribution and habitat

Vaccinium cespitosum is widespread across much of Canada including all three Arctic territories, as well as the northern and western United States, Mexico, and Guatemala. [5] [3] [6] Its native habitats include gravelly or rocky meadows and mountain slopes. [7] In the Great Lakes area, it is usually found in savannas or conifer forests. Where bilberry is common, it can be found at higher elevations and in spruce-fir forest. It can also be found in alpine heath and in shrublands. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Vaccinium</i> Genus of berry-producing shrubs in the heath family

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bilberry</span> Species of shrub with edible berries

Bilberries or blueberries are primarily Eurasian low-growing shrubs in the genus Vaccinium, bearing edible, dark blue berries. The species most often referred to is Vaccinium myrtillus L., but there are several other closely related species.

<i>Vaccinium angustifolium</i> Berry and plant

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.

<i>Vaccinium corymbosum</i> Species of plant

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.

<i>Vaccinium myrtilloides</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium myrtilloides is a shrub with common names including common blueberry, velvetleaf huckleberry, velvetleaf blueberry, Canadian blueberry, and sourtop blueberry. It is common in much of North America, reported from all 10 Canadian provinces plus Nunavut and Northwest Territories, as well as from the northeastern and Great Lakes states in the United States. It is also known to occur in Montana and Washington.

<i>Vaccinium darrowii</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium darrowii, with the common names Darrow's blueberry, evergreen blueberry, scrub blueberry, is a species of Vaccinium in the blueberry group.

<i>Vaccinium uliginosum</i> Berry and plant

Vaccinium uliginosum is a Eurasian and North American flowering plant in the genus Vaccinium within the heath family.

<i>Atriplex confertifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Atriplex confertifolia, the shadscale or spiny saltbush, is a species of evergreen shrub in the family Amaranthaceae, which is native to the western United States and northern Mexico.

<i>Allium cernuum</i> Species of flowering plant

Allium cernuum, known as nodding onion or lady's leek, is a perennial plant in the genus Allium. It grows in open areas in North America.

<i>Vaccinium stamineum</i> Species of flowering plant

Vaccinium stamineum, commonly known as deerberry, tall deerberry, 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.

<i>Vaccinium ovalifolium</i> Species of flowering plant

Vaccinium ovalifolium is a plant in the heath family with three varieties, all of which grow in northerly regions.

<i>Gaylussacia baccata</i> Berry and plant

Gaylussacia baccata, the black huckleberry, is a common huckleberry found throughout a wide area of eastern North America.

<i>Rubus pubescens</i> Berry and plant

Rubus pubescens is a herbaceous perennial widespread across much of Canada and the northern United States, from Alaska to Newfoundland, south as far as Oregon, Colorado, and West Virginia.

<i>Vaccinium deliciosum</i> Species of flowering plant

Vaccinium deliciosum is a species of bilberry known by the common names Cascade bilberry, Cascade blueberry, and blueleaf huckleberry.

<i>Vaccinium membranaceum</i> Species of plant

Vaccinium membranaceum is a species within the group of Vaccinium commonly referred to as huckleberry. This particular species is known by the common names thinleaf huckleberry, tall huckleberry, big huckleberry, mountain huckleberry, square-twig blueberry, and (ambiguously) as "black huckleberry".

<i>Gaylussacia dumosa</i> Berry and plant

Gaylussacia dumosa is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common names dwarf huckleberry, bush huckleberry, and gopherberry. It is native to eastern North America from Newfoundland to Louisiana and Florida. It occurs along the coastal plain and in the mountains.

<i>Vaccinium pallidum</i> Berry and plant

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.

<i>Vaccinium oxycoccos</i> Species of flowering plant

Vaccinium oxycoccos is a species of flowering plant in the heath family. It is known as small cranberry, marshberry, bog cranberry, swamp cranberry, or, particularly in Britain, just cranberry. It is widespread throughout the cool temperate northern hemisphere, including northern Europe, northern Asia and northern North America.

<i>Bouvardia ternifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Bouvardia ternifolia, the firecracker bush, is a shrub widespread across much of Mexico, the range extending south into Honduras and north into the southwestern United States.

References

  1. NatureServe (2024). "Vaccinium caespitosum". Arlington, Virginia. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  2. "Vaccinium caespitosum". Tropicos . Missouri Botanical Gardens via The Plant List. Note that this website has been superseded by World Flora Online
  3. 1 2 3 Vander Kloet, Sam P. (2009). "Vaccinium cespitosum". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 8. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  4. 1 2 3 "Dwarf Bilberry". www.fs.usda.gov. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  5. "Vaccinium caespitosum". State-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
  6. CONABIO. 2009. Catálogo taxonómico de especies de México. 1. In Capital Nat. México. CONABIO, México D.F.
  7. "Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin". www.wildflower.org. Retrieved 2022-10-16.