Vaccinium uliginosum

Vaccinium uliginosum
Leaves and fruit
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Ericaceae
Genus:	Vaccinium
Species:	V. uliginosum
Binomial name
Vaccinium uliginosum L.

Vaccinium uliginosum (Bog Bilberry or Northern Bilberry) is a flowering plant in the genus Vaccinium.

Flowers

Distribution

Vaccinium uliginosum is native to cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, at low altitudes in the Arctic, and at high altitudes south to the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Caucasus in Europe, the mountains of Mongolia, northern China and central Japan in Asia, and the Sierra Nevada in California and the Rocky Mountains in Utah in North America.

It grows on wet acidic soils on heathland, moorland, tundra, and in the understory of coniferous forests, from sea level in the Arctic, up to 3,400 metres (11,200 ft) altitude in the south of the range.

Description

Vaccinium uliginosum is a small deciduous shrub growing to  cm 10–75 centimetres (0.33–2.46 ft) tall, rarely 1 metre (3.3 ft)tall, with brown stems (unlike the green stems of the closely related Bilberry). The leaves are oval, 4–30 millimetres (0.16–1.2 in) long and 2–15 millimetres (0.079–0.59 in) wide, blue-green with pale net-like veins, with a smooth margin and rounded apex.

The flowers are pendulous, urn-shaped, pale pink, 4-6 mm long, produced in mid spring. The fruit is a dark blue-black berry 5–8 millimetres (0.20–0.31 in) diameter, with a white flesh, edible and sweet when ripe in late summer.

Subspecies

Some authors separate them, but these are not considered distinct by all authorities - the subspecies are:

• Vaccinium uliginosum subsp. microphyllum - Arctic plants ^[1]
• Vaccinium uliginosum subsp. occidentale - North American plants ^[2]

References

1. ^ Lange
2. ^ (A.Gray) Hultén

• Germplasm Resources Information Network: Vaccinium uliginosum
• Flora of China: Vaccinium uliginosum
• Flora Europaea: Vaccinium uliginosum
• Jepson . accessed 11.10.2010
• Plants of British Columbia: Vaccinium uliginosum
• Blamey, M., & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. Hodder & Stoughton.

External links

• Den virtuelle floran - Vaccinium uliginosum Distribution
• USDA: Vaccinium uliginosum
• Jepson Flora Project: Vaccinium uliginosum
• Vaccinium uliginosum in Plantarium Database - A Photo Guide.