Vaccinium stamineum L.

  • Authority

    Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

  • Family

    Ericaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Vaccinium stamineum L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Deciduous shrub to 1.5 m, glabrous to densely hairy; lvs thin, oblong or elliptic to obovate, 3–10 cm, acute or acuminate, entire, petioles 2–3 mm; fls in racemes or panicles on specialized branches subtended by leafy bracts like the foliage lvs but usually much smaller; sep half-orbicular to ovate or deltoid, 1–2.5 mm; cor obconic, open even in bud, greenish or suffused with purple, eventually 4–6 mm, 5-lobed nearly to the middle; stamens exsert, the conspicuous terminal tubules long-exsert, much longer than the dorsal spurs; style prematurely exsert; fr yellowish or greenish to blue, to 1 cm, palatable to more often scarcely edible; 2n=24. Dry woods; Me. to Ind. and Mo., s. to Fla., Tex., and Mex. May, June. (Polycodium s.; P. candicans; V. caesium; V. melanocarpum; V. neglectum) Highly variable, some of the numerous segregates perhaps worthy of taxonomic notice.

  • Common Names

    deerberry