Canadian blueberry
Encyclopedia
Canadian Blueberry, Vaccinium myrtilloides , is also called Common Blueberry, Velvetleaf Huckleberry, Velvetleaf Blueberry, and Sourtop Blueberry. It is a species of blueberry
native to Canada
and the Northeastern
and Northwestern
United States
, as well as the Great Lakes
states.
shrub
growing to 50 cm tall, often in small thickets. The leaves
are bright green, paler underneath with velvety hairs. The flower
s are white, bell-shaped, 5 mm long. The fruit
is a small sweet bright blue to dark blue berry. Young stems have stiff dense bristly hairs.
This plant grows best in open coniferous woods with dry loose acidic soils; it is also found in forested bog
s and rocky areas. It is fire-tolerant and is often abundant following forest fires or clear-cut logging. Vaccinium myrtilloides hybridizes in the wild with Vaccinium angustifolium - Lowbush blueberry .
, mainly harvested from managed wild patches. Vaccinium myrtilloides is one of the sweetest blueberries known.
It is also an important food source for black bear
s, deer
, small mammals, and birds.
Blueberry
Blueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries and are perennial...
native to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the Northeastern
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...
and Northwestern
Northwestern United States
The Northwestern United States comprise the northwestern states up to the western Great Plains regions of the United States, and consistently include the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, to which part of southeast Alaska is also sometimes included...
United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as well as the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
states.
Description
Vaccinium myrtilloides is a low spreading deciduousDeciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
growing to 50 cm tall, often in small thickets. The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are bright green, paler underneath with velvety hairs. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are white, bell-shaped, 5 mm long. The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
is a small sweet bright blue to dark blue berry. Young stems have stiff dense bristly hairs.
This plant grows best in open coniferous woods with dry loose acidic soils; it is also found in forested bog
Bog
A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....
s and rocky areas. It is fire-tolerant and is often abundant following forest fires or clear-cut logging. Vaccinium myrtilloides hybridizes in the wild with Vaccinium angustifolium - Lowbush blueberry .
Charactersitics
This native plant is also cultivated and grown commercially in Canada and MaineMaine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, mainly harvested from managed wild patches. Vaccinium myrtilloides is one of the sweetest blueberries known.
It is also an important food source for black bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
s, deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
, small mammals, and birds.