ERICACEAE

HEATH FAMILY

Gary D. Wallace, except as specified

Perennial, shrub, tree
Stem: bark often peeling distinctively
Leaves simple, generally cauline, alternate, opposite, rarely whorled, evergreen or deciduous, often leathery, petioled or not; stipules 0
Inflorescence: raceme, panicle, cyme, or flowers solitary, generally bracted; pedicels often with 2 bractlets
Flower generally bisexual, generally radial; sepals generally 4–5, generally free; petals generally 4–5, free or fused; stamens 8–10, free, filaments rarely appendaged, anthers awned or not, dehiscent by pores or slits; nectary generally at ovary base, disk-like; ovary superior or inferior, chambers generally 1–5, placentas axile or parietal, ovules 1–many per chamber, style 1, stigma head- to funnel-like or lobed
Fruit: capsule, drupe, berry
Seeds generally many, sometimes winged
Genera in family: ± 100 genera, 3000 species: generally worldwide except deserts; some cultivated, especially Arbutus, Arctostaphylos, Rhododendron, Vaccinium
Reference: [Wallace 1975 Wasmann J Biol 33:1–88; 1975 Bot Not 128:286–298]
Subfamilies Monotropoideae, Pyroloideae, Vaccinioideae sometimes treated as families. Nongreen plants obtain nutrition from green plants through fungal intermediates.

VACCINIUM

BLUEBERRY, HUCKLEBERRY, CRANBERRY

Shrub, tree, glabrous to hairy, rhizomed or not; burls generally 0
Stem trailing to erect
Leaves alternate
Inflorescence: raceme or flowers solitary, bracted; bud scales present; bractlets generally 2
Flower: sepals 4–5, 2/3 to fully fused (lobes then 0); petals generally 4–5, ± 2/3 fused, cylindric to urn- or cup-shaped, generally white; stamens 8 or 10, filaments generally glabrous, anthers elongate, dehiscent by pores on small tubes, awned or not; ovary inferior, chambers 4–5 (or appearing 10 by intrusion of ovary wall), placentas axile, stigma head-like
Fruit: berry
Seeds generally many
Species in genus: 400+ species: temp n hemisphere, tropical mtns, Africa
Etymology: (Latin: for V. myrtillus L.)
[Vander Kloet 1988 The genus Vaccinium in North America]

Native

V. caespitosum Michx.

DWARF BILBERRY

Shrub, generally hairy, rhizomed
Stem prostrate to erect, < 5 dm, generally rooting; twigs not or weakly angled, greenish, youngest generally puberulent or glandular
Leaves deciduous, generally 1–3 cm; blade generally oblong or obovate to elliptic, generally thin, not membranous, minutely serrate, base tapered, tip seldom acute, lower surface generally glandular
Inflorescence: flowers solitary in axils of lowest leaves of youngest shoots; bractlets 0; pedicels not jointed to flower
Flower: calyx lobes ± 0; corolla < 6 mm, whitish to pinkish, narrowly urn-shaped; anthers awned
Fruit < 9 mm wide, generally blue-glaucous
Chromosomes: 2n=24
Ecology: Margins of wet meadows, mtn slopes
Elevation: < 3400 m.
Bioregional distribution: North Coast, Klamath Ranges, Outer North Coast Ranges, High North Coast Ranges, High Cascade Range, High Sierra Nevada, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, Warner Mountains
Distribution outside California: to Alaska, Montana, also ne US and adjacent Canada
Synonyms: V. arbuscula (A. Gray) Merriam; V. nivictum Camp
Horticultural information: WET or IRR: 1, 2, 4, 5, 17 &SHD: 6, 14, 15, 16; acidic soil; DFCLT; GRCVR.