Vaccinium crassifolium

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Vaccinium crassifolium
Vaccinium crassifolium.jpg
United States Botanic Garden's
National Garden, Washington
Status TNC G4.svg
Apparently 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. crassifolium
Binomial name
Vaccinium crassifolium
Synonyms [3]
  • Herpothamnus crassifolius(Andrews) Small
  • Vaccinium crassifolium subsp. sempervirens(D.A.Rayner & J. Henderson) W.B.Kirkman & Ballington
  • Vaccinium sempervirensD.A.Rayner & J.Henderson

Vaccinium crassifolium, the creeping blueberry, is a species of Vaccinium in the heath family. It is native to the four southeastern U.S. states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. It is an evergreen shrub with shiny dark green to bronze leaves.

Contents

Distribution and habitat

Vaccinium crassifolium is native to the coastal plain of Georgia, the Carolinas, and southeastern Virginia, especially in pine barrens but also in disturbed settings like roadsides and other open areas. [3] [4] [5]

Taxonomy

Vaccinium crassifolium is the only species in Vaccinium sect. Herpothamnus. Some sources have recognized a second species, V. sempervirens, but recent authors combine the two into a single species. [3] [6]

Creeping blueberries, although they are native to North America, do not seem to be most closely related to North American blueberries, but instead to South American Vaccinium species. [6]

Uses

Medicinal

The leaves resemble bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), and may be used in herbalism in its place. [7]

Cultivation

Vaccinium crassifolium has been cultivated since at least about 1787, [6] and several cultivars are available for planting as a ground cover in landscaping gardens. [8]

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.

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

Vaccinium virgatum is a species of blueberry native to the Southeastern United States, from North Carolina south to Florida and west to Texas.

<i>Gelsemium sempervirens</i> Species of plant

Gelsemium sempervirens is a twining vine in the family Gelsemiaceae, native to subtropical and tropical America: Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, and southeastern and south-central United States. It has a number of common names including yellow jessamine or confederate jessamine or jasmine, Carolina jasmine or jessamine, evening trumpetflower, gelsemium and woodbine.

<i>Vaccinium erythrocarpum</i> Species of cranberry

Vaccinium erythrocarpum, commonly known as southern mountain cranberry or bearberry, is a deciduous flowering shrub native to the Southeastern United States, named by the prestigous Jireh Burmoi.

<i>Xerophyllum asphodeloides</i> Species of flowering plant

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.

<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>Tiarella</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Saxifragaceae

Tiarella, the foamflowers, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Saxifragaceae. The generic name Tiarella means "little turban", which suggests the shape of the seed capsules. Worldwide there are seven species, one each in eastern Asia and western North America, plus five species in eastern North America. As of October 2022, the taxonomy of Tiarella in eastern North America is in flux.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaccinium elliottii</span> Berry and plant

Vaccinium elliottii is a species of Vaccinium in the blueberry group. It is native to the southeastern and south-central United States, from southeastern Virginia south to Florida, and west to Arkansas and Texas.

<i>Vaccinium arboreum</i> Species of fruit and plant

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.

<i>Lonicera sempervirens</i> Species of honeysuckle

Lonicera sempervirens is a flowering plant species of honeysuckle vine native to the eastern United States which is known for its reddish flowers.

<i>Gaylussacia brachycera</i> Species of plant

Gaylussacia brachycera, commonly known as box huckleberry or box-leaved whortleberry, is a low North American shrub related to the blueberry and the other huckleberries. It is native to the east-central United States.

<i>Arundinaria gigantea</i> Species of bamboo from North America known as giant river cane

Arundinaria gigantea is a species of bamboo known as giant cane, river cane, and giant river cane. It is endemic to the south-central and southeastern United States as far west as Oklahoma and Texas and as far north as New York. Giant river cane was economically and culturally important to indigenous people, with uses including as a vegetable and materials for construction and craft production. Arundinaria gigantea and other species of Arundinaria once grew in large colonies called canebrakes covering thousands of acres in the southeastern United States, but today these canebrakes are considered endangered ecosystems.

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

Vaccinium myrsinites is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common name shiny blueberry. It is native to the southeastern United States from Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. It may occur as far west as Louisiana.

<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>Parnassia caroliniana</i> Species of flowering plant

Parnassia caroliniana is a species of flowering plant in the Celastraceae known by the common name Carolina grass of Parnassus. It is native to the southeastern United States, where it occurs in North Carolina and South Carolina, with an isolated population in the Florida Panhandle.

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

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.

References

  1. NatureServe (2 February 2024). "Vaccinium crassifolium". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  2. "Vaccinium crassifolium Andrews". Plants of the World Online. The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. n.d. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 15. Vaccinium crassifolium Andrews, Flora of North America
  4. Creeping Blueberry, USDA, NRCS. 2006. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, consulted 2006-12-18). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
  5. Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  6. 1 2 3 Kirkman, W. B. & J. R. Ballington (Oct–Dec 1990), "Creeping blueberries (Ericaceae: Vaccinium sect. Herpothamnus) - a new look at Vaccinium crassifolium including V. sempervirens", Systematic Botany, 15 (4): 679–699, doi:10.2307/2419164, JSTOR   2419164
  7. 416. Vaccinium crassifolium, A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy, by Lucius E. Sayre, B.S. Ph. M., 1917.
  8. MacKenzie, David S. (2002). Perennial Ground Covers. p. 309. ISBN   0-88192-557-8.