Vaccinium myrtilloides Michx.
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Authority
Sargent, Charles S. 1889. Vaccinium hirsutum. Gard. & Forest. 2: 364, 365, fig. 119.
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Family
Ericaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type locality: Lake Mistassini, Quebec. According to Rehder, introduced in 1834.
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Description
Species Description - Plants in dense colonies, seldom more than several meters in extent, (10) 20-40 (rarely 50) centimeters high. Leaves deciduous, notably thin, green; the lower surface non-glandular, often shining beneath the dense and setosoid pubescence (in some forms the pubescence sparse); elliptic to sublanceolate, 0.75-1.5 cm. wide, 1.5-3 cm. long; the margin sometimes obscured by the pubescence, but entire. Corolla broadly cylindro-campanulate, 4-5 mm. long, white or rarely pink-tinged. Fruit frosty-blue, 4-7 mm. in diameter, of good flavor.
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Discussion
Vaccinium canadense Kalm ex Rich. Franklin Journ. ed. 1. 736. 1823.
Vaccinium pennsylvanicum var. myrtilloides Fernald, Rhodora 10: 148. 1908.
Cyanococcus canadensis Rydb. Fl. Rocky Mts. 645, 1065. 1917.
Diploid (2n = 24).
This is the most northerly and westerly ranging species of the group. Hybrids with atrococcum and angustifolium are fairly common, those with the latter spe- cies accounting for the forms with sparsely pubescent and occasional subserrate leaves (see also V. angustifolium). Also, several places are known where vacil- lans and mnyrtilloides have produced hybrid populations. One of these was an Indiana hillside in a region dominated by vacillans. On the side of this par- ticular hill was a seepage spring, sufficiently constant to support a small area of sphagnum moss; and in this moister spot was a single plant completely char- acteristic of V. myrtilloides (which was otherwise unknown in the region and in that place quite possibly a Pleistocene relic). Nearby were plants which com- bined the characters of both vacillans and myrtilloides and clearly of 'hybrid origin. Under ordinary ecological conditions, these species seldom approach sufficiently close to be able to make genetic contact. Although it is not yet demon- strated, some of the coarser forms of myrtilloides may yet prove to be tetraploid. Although often present in the early stages of the development of a commercial blueberry field, as in parts of New England and Canada, myrtilloides is less suc- cessful than angustifolitm under conditions of constant burning and seems to be eliminated by competition, usually within the first decade. Apparently myrtil- loides is more tolerant of shade than angustifolium, often persisting in second- growth forests long after the latter species has disappeared.
It is perhaps unfortunate "that a namiie so well fixed in literature as V. canadense must be changed, but the original description of the prior V. myrtil- loides leaves no doubt of what kind of plant Michaux had. Furthermore, in a recent exchange of correspondence with Professor Fernald wherein we discnssed the matter, he has clarified his former opinion (Rhodora 10: 148. 1908) and, after a reconsideration of his notes made while examining the type of V. myrtilloides Michx. in 1903, agrees that the original specimen is this species rather than a variety of "V. pennsylvanicurm."
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Distribution
Montana, southeastern British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, east to Labrador and south to New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and West Virginia; usually in muskeg or boggy areas, or on uplands and in mountain meadows.
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