Taxonomy
Family: Ericaceae
Habitat
Moist to dry, sandy or rocky soil. Includes sandy black oak savanna, rich dune slopes, and sandy barrens. Also acid peaty or boggy habitats. Fire-adapted.
Associates
Toads?
Distribution
Labrador and Newfoundland west to Manitoba, south to NJ, PA, IL, MN, and to NC in mountains.
Morphology
Colonial, deciduous shrub to 60 cm. Leaves more or less elliptic, to 3 cm long and 1/3 to 1/2 as wide, serrulate, mostly glabrous and occasionally glaucous. Flowers jointed to the pedicel; calyx and pedicel typically glaucous; corolla cylindric to urn-shaped, 4-6 mm; anthers not spurred. Fruit blue-glaucous or more rarely black, 5-10 mm.
Notes
Flowers early April to mid September.
Wetland indicator: Facultative Upland
There are several species of "lowbush" blueberries. This one is usually over 10 cm tall, with leaves that are rarely more than 3 x 1.5 cm, eglandular below, and with serrulate margins. It blooms mostly in April and sporadically thereafter
References
Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. Second Ed.
The New York Botanical Garden. Bronx, NY
Swink, F. and G. Wilhelm. 1994. Plants of the Chicago Region.
Indiana Academy of Science. The Morton Arboretum. Lisle, Illinois.
Michael Hough © 2005 |