Vaccinium is a hardy genus of shrubs that produces many of the berries we love
to eat: bilberries, blueberries, whortleberries, hurtleberries, huckleberries, cranberries,
lingonberries, dangleberries, and cowberries among
them. Many species are cultivated now. Bears, birds, and many other animals also enjoy these fruits.
Vaccinium taxonomy is bewildering, in part because they hybridize freely.
Identification: Plants are mostly deciduous perennial shrubs (a few
are evergreens), some only a few
centimeters high, others a meter or more, with tough, flexible branches. They seem to hunker down,
adjusting to the often exposed locations they inhabit, flourishing where few species can.
Some prefer bogs; others
acidic, sandy soils or woodlands. They have shiny, elliptic leaves
and flowers that are usually urn-shaped, and about the same size as the berries. Berries vary in size from ⅛-½" (3.2-15 mm) in size,
and may be blue, red, or black.
Below are some of members of the Vaccinium genus, along with some similar-appearing
members from Gaylussacia:
12-36" (30-91 cm) in height, with stiff branches that are light brown or greenish when young, changing to gray or black with age. Shrubs are found in colonies.
These low evergreen shrubs are 6-18" (15-45 cm) high.
12-30" (30-75 cm) in height, and heavily branched. Young twigs are covered with short, curly hairs.
Flowers
Pink, about ⅜" (9.5 mm) in size, and urn-shaped, in racemes. They bloom from May to July.
White or pinkish, urn-shaped, about ⅛" (4 mm) in size, appearing from May to June.
Bell-shaped, cream-colored, tinged with pink, appearing in June.
Leaves
Oval, becoming orange/red in the fall. Leaves are coated with gold-colored resin glands. The resin can be seen by rubbing the leaves between your fingers, or on a piece of paper.
Leaves resemble boxwood leaves. They lack the resin glands found in other huckleberries, and are dark, glossy green, becoming bronze-colored or reddish-purple in the fall. They are ovate, with crenate or serrulate edges and leaf petioles (stems) ¹/₃₂-⅛" (0.5-3 mm) long.
Deciduous shrubs are less than 12" (30 cm) high, forming sprawling mats.
Shrubs are perennials, reaching 11' (3.5 m), with brown bark.
Vine-like, creeping up to 6' (1.8 m) horizontally, but less than 8" (20 cm) high. If you aren't standing or floating in a bog, you probably aren't looking at cranberries.
Flowers
Pink or red, globose (spherical) or urn-shaped, ⅛-³/₁₆" (4-6 mm) × ⅛-¼" (5-7 mm). They appear from May to July.
Urn-shaped and cream-colored, with pink bases and sometimes pink stripes, about ⅛" (6 mm) in size.
Pale pink or white, about ½" (1.3 cm) long, with four petals that curve strongly backward.
Leaves
Alternate, oblong to egg-shaped, about ⅝-1¼" (1.7-3.5 cm) × ¼-⅝" (9-17 mm), with finely serrated (sometimes smooth) edges.
Alternate, 1-1¼" (3-3.5 cm) × ⅝-⅞" (1.6-2.5 cm) wide, and lanceolate, elliptic, or ovate; thick and leathery, hairless above, finely hairy and much lighter in color below.
About ½" (1.3 cm) long, oval, shiny on top.
Fruit
Blue to dull black, coated with a white waxy powder, ¼-½" (9-13 mm) in diameter.
⅛-⅜" (6-10 mm) in diameter.
Berries are ½-1" (1.3-2.5 cm) in diameter and quite hard, like tiny apples.
Range/ Zones
Habitats
Alpine meadows, subalpine coniferous woods, talus slopes; elevations of 1969-6562' (600-2000 m)
These spreading shrubs are up to 20" (50 cm) in height, with stems covered with fine hairs.
These plants are bushy shrubs up to 24-36" (60-91 cm) in full sun, and up to 15' (4.6 m) in the shade.
Small cranberries form mats of tiny shrubs only a few centimeters in height.
Flowers
White, urn-shaped, about ¹/₁₆-³/₁₆" (3-5 mm) in size, appearing May-June.
About ½" (1.3 cm) long, pinkish white, bell-shaped, in clusters of 3 to 10.
Dark pink, and four-petaled, with the petals bending way back to the stem ("reflexed").
Leaves
Deciduous, alternate, ⅞-1¼" (2.3-3.5 cm) × ¼-⅝" (8-16 mm), bright green above, much lighter below, covered with soft and velvety hairs.
Dark green and shiny, alternate, 1-2" (2.5-5 cm) long. They are ovate (oval, wider at the base) in shape, with pointed tips, tough and leathery, with small serrations along the edges.
Leaf edges are rolled under. Leaves are opposite, roughly oval (ovate), wider at the base, pointed at the tip.
Fruit
⅛-¼" (6-8 mm) in diameter, usually blue with a whitish waxy bloom, sometimes purplish black.
Purplish black, ⅛-¼" (4-7 mm) in diameter.
Less than ½" (1.3 cm) in diameter, while large cranberries are more than ½" (1.3 cm) in diameter. Both are deep red when ripe.
