FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Look for blueberries or urn- shaped flowers, characteristic of many members of this family. Brilliant red fall colors are typical. Berries are edible.
Synonym(s): Cyanococcus corymbosus, Cyanococcus cuthbertii, Vaccinium constablaei
Description: Deciduous shrub to 4 m tall with arching green, brown, or red twigs.
Leaves: Alternate, elliptic with entire or finely toothed edges. Fine hairs present on leaf undersides and twigs.
Flowers/Fruit: Clusters of small, white or pink, urn-shaped flowers (usually less than 1 cm long). Berries blue with glaucous coating. Flowers in May; fruits mostly in August.
Habit and Range: Swamps, poorly drained wetlands, and bogs; sometimes heath balds or granitic domes, especially near seeps. Mountains and high elevations in western Piedmont.
Taxonomic Note: There is some taxonomic controversy surrounding this species and others in its genus, including where each occurs. This species has recently been split into at least three species, including V. formosum (southern blueberry) and V. caesariense (New Jersey blueberry). Hybridization is apparently also occurring.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Gaylussacia frondosa (blue huckleberry) is a smaller shrub with similar, but generally lighter colored, leaves. G. frondosa leaves have yellow resinous dots on undersides, an important distinguishing feature.
Click here to view Gaylussacia frondosa.
Link to side-by-side comparisons page
