Vaccinium corymbosum
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Vaccinium corymbosum, the northern highbush blueberry, is a North American species of blueberry. Other common names include blue huckleberry, tall huckleberry, swamp huckleberry, high blueberry, and swamp blueberry.[1]
Description
Vaccinium corymbosum is a deciduous shrub growing to Template:Convert tall and wide. It is often found in dense thickets. The dark glossy green leaves are elliptical and up to Template:Convert long. In autumn, the leaves turn to a brilliant red, orange, yellow, and/or purple.[2][3]
The flowers are long bell- or urn-shaped white to very light pink, Template:Convert long.[2][3] The fruit is a blue-black berry with a Template:Convert diameter.[2]
The species is tetraploid and does not self-pollinate.[4] Most cultivars have a chilling requirement greater than 800 hours. Cytology is 2n = 48.[5]
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Distribution and habitat
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, including Europe, Japan, New Zealand, and the North American Pacific Northwest.[6][7][2][8]
The plant is found in wooded or open habitats with moist acidic soils.[3][9]
Ecology
In natural habitats, the berries are a food source for native and migrating birds, bears, and small mammals. The foliage is browsed by deer and rabbits.[10]
Uses
The berries were collected and used in Native American cuisine in areas where V. corymbosum grew natively.[11]
Many wild species of Vaccinium are thought to have been cultivated by Native Americans for thousands of years, with intentional crop burnings in northeastern areas being apparent from archeological evidence.[4] V. corymbosum, being one of the species likely used by these peoples, was later studied and domesticated in 1908 by Elizabeth Coleman White and Frederick Vernon Coville. It went on to become the most common commercially grown blueberry in North America.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant for home and wildlife gardens and natural landscaping projects.[9][12] The soil pH must be very acidic (4.5 to 5.5).[2]
Cultivars
Some common cultivar varieties are listed here, grouped by approximate start of the harvest season:[13]
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The cultivars Duke[14] and Spartan[15] have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Southern highbush blueberry
Some named Southern highbush blueberry are hybridized forms derived from crosses between V. corymbosum and V. darrowii, a native of the Southeastern U.S. These hybrids and other cultivars of V. darrowii (Southern highbush blueberry) have been developed for cultivation in warm southern and western regions of North America.[16][17]
See also
References
External links
- United States Department of Agriculture Plants Profile for Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
- Species account and photographs from Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Information Network (NPIN)
Template:Blueberries Template:Taxonbar Template:Authority control
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b c d e Vaccinium corymbosum. accessed 3.23.2013
- ↑ a b c Flora of North America, Vaccinium corymbosum Linnaeus, 1753. High-bush blueberry, bleuet en corymbe
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- ↑ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
- ↑ Taxonomic account from Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) — for Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
- ↑ Template:GRIN
- ↑ a b Missouri Botanical Garden: Kemper Center for Home Gardening — Vaccinium corymbosum. accessed 3.23.2013
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ University of Michigan at Dearborn — Native American Ethnobotany of Vaccinium corymbosum Template:Webarchive. accessed 9.9.2015
- ↑ Hort.uconn.edu: Vaccinium corymbosum; Landscape use section Template:Webarchive. accessed 3.23.2013
- ↑ Hort.uconn.edu: Vaccinium corymbosum; Cultivars/varieties section Template:Webarchive. accessed 3.23.2013
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ eXtension: Southern Highbush Blueberry VarietiesTemplate:Dead link
- ↑ Four Winds Growers: Care of southern highbush blueberries
- Pages with script errors
- Vaccinium
- Blueberries
- Fruits originating in North America
- Crops originating from North America
- Flora of Eastern Canada
- Flora of the Eastern United States
- Flora of the Appalachian Mountains
- Plants described in 1753
- Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
- Bird food plants
- Plants used in Native American cuisine
- Garden plants of North America