Horticulture/Vaccinium

Vaccinium__NOTOC__Blueberries, Cranberries Vaccinium corymbosum(01).jpg Vaccinium Ericaceae Shrubs Insects Description Growing Conditions Varieties Uses Maintenance Propagation Harvest Pests and Diseases References 7.12.13 Vaccinium is a genus of shrubs in the plant Family Ericaceae including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry or whortleberry, cowberry or lingonberry, and huckleberry. The genus contains about 450 species, which are found mostly in the cooler areas of the Northern Hemisphere, although there are tropical species from as widely separated areas as Madagascar and Hawai'i. The plants prefer heath landscapes, as well as open forests. The name Vaccinium was used for a type of berry (probably the bilberry V. myrtillus) in classical Latin, but its ultimate derivation is obscure; it has nothing to do with vaccinum "of or pertaining to cows", but may be a corruption of Latin bacca, berry (OED). The fruit develops from an inferior ovary, and is a berry. Vaccinium species are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species - see list of Lepidoptera which feed on Vaccinium. The taxonomy is complex, and still under investigation; there are two subgenera, and several sections: Subgenus Oxycoccus The cranberries, with slender, trailing, wiry non-woody shoots and strongly reflexed flower petals. Some botanists treat Oxycoccus as a distinct genus. Sect. Oxycoccus Vaccinium macrocarpon (American Cranberry) Vaccinium microcarpum (Small Cranberry) Vaccinium oxycoccus (Common Cranberry) Sect. Oxycoccoides Vaccinium erythrocarpum (Southern Mountain Cranberry) Subgenus Vaccinium All the other species, with thicker, upright woody shoots and bell-shaped flowers. Sect. Batodendron Vaccinium arboreum (Sparkleberry) (images) Vaccinium crassifolium (Creeping blueberry) Sect. Brachyceratium Vaccinium dependens Sect. Bracteata Vaccinium acrobracteatum Vaccinium barandanum Vaccinium bracteatum Vaccinium coriaceum Vaccinium cornigerum Vaccinium cruentum Vaccinium hooglandii Vaccinium horizontale Vaccinium laurifolium Vaccinium lucidum Vaccinium myrtoides Vaccinium phillyreoides Vaccinium reticulatovenosum Vaccinium sparsum Vaccinium varingifolium Sect. Ciliata Vaccinium ciliatum Vaccinium oldhamii Sect. Cinctosandra Vaccinium exul Sect. Conchophyllum Vaccinium corymbodendron Vaccinium delavayi Vaccinium emarginatum Vaccinium griffithianum Vaccinium meridionale Vaccinium moupinense (Himalayan Blueberry) Vaccinium neilgherrense Vaccinium nummularia Vaccinium retusum Sect. Cyanococcus (blueberries) Vaccinium angustifolium (Lowbush Blueberry) Vaccinium boreale (Northern Blueberry) Vaccinium caesariense (New Jersey Blueberry) Vaccinium corymbosum (Highbush Blueberry) Vaccinium darrowii Vaccinium elliottii Vaccinium formosum Vaccinium fuscatum (Black Highbush Blueberry; syn. V. atrococcum) Vaccinium hirsutum Vaccinium koreanum Vaccinium myrsinites (Evergreen Blueberry) Vaccinium myrtilloides (Canadian Blueberry) Vaccinium pallidum (Dryland Blueberry) (images) Vaccinium simulatum Vaccinium tenellum Vaccinium virgatum (Rabbiteye Blueberry; syn. V. ashei) Sect. Eococcus Vaccinium fragile Sect. Epigynium Vaccinium vacciniaceum Sect. Galeopetalum Vaccinium chunii Vaccinium dunalianum Vaccinium glaucoalbum Vaccinium urceolatum Sect. Hemimyrtillus Vaccinium arctostaphylos Vaccinium cylindraceum Vaccinium hirtum Vaccinium padifolium Vaccinium smallii Sect. Myrtillus Vaccinium calycinum Vaccinium cespitosum Vaccinium deliciosum (Cascade Bilberry) Vaccinium dentatum Vaccinium membranaceum Vaccinium myrtillus (Bilberry) Vaccinium ovalifolium (Alaska Blueberry; syn. V. alaskaense) Vaccinium parvifolium (Red Huckleberry) Vaccinium praestans Vaccinium reticulatum (ohelo 'ai) Vaccinium scoparium (Grouse Whortleberry) Sect. Neurodesia Vaccinium crenatum Sect. Oarianthe Vaccinium ambyandrum Vaccinium cyclopense Sect. Oreades Vaccinium poasanum Sect. Pachyanthum Vaccinium fissiflorum Sect. Polycodium Vaccinium stamineum (Deerberry; syn. V. caesium) (images) Sect. Pyxothamnus Vaccinium consanguineum Vaccinium floribundum Vaccinium ovatum (California Huckleberry) Sect. Vaccinium Vaccinium uliginosum (Northern Bilberry; syn. V. occidentale) Sect. Vitis-idaea Vaccinium vitis-idaea (Cowberry, Lingonberry) References and external links Germplasm Resources Information Network: Vaccinium