Vaccinium myrtilloides

Vaccinium myrtilloides
Conservation status
	; Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Ericaceae
Genus:	Vaccinium
Species:	V. myrtilloides
Binomial name
	Vaccinium myrtilloides; Michx. 1803
Synonyms
	Vaccinium angustifolium var. myrtilloides (Michx.) House;

Vaccinium myrtilloides is a North American shrub with common names including common blueberry, velvetleaf huckleberry, velvetleaf blueberry, Canadian blueberry, and sourtop blueberry.^[3]

Description

Vaccinium myrtilloides is a low spreading deciduous shrub growing up to 50 cm (20 inches) tall, often spreading to form small thickets. The leaves are bright green, paler underneath with velvety hairs. The flowers are white, bell-shaped, 5 millimetres (1⁄4 in) long. The fruit is a small sweet bright blue to dark blue berry. Young stems have stiff dense bristly hairs.^[4]

Cytology is 2n = 24.^[5]^[6]

Distribution and habitat

It is common in much of North America, reported from all 10 Canadian provinces plus Nunavut and Northwest Territories, as well as from the northeastern and Great Lakes states in the United States. It is also known to occur in Montana and Washington.^[4]

Ecology

Vaccinium myrtilloides grows best in open coniferous woods with dry loose acidic soils; it is also found in forested bogs 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 V. angustifolium (lowbush blueberry).^[5]^[6]

It is an important food source for black bears, deer, small mammals, and birds.

Conservation

This species is listed as endangered in Indiana and Connecticut,^[7] as threatened in Iowa and Ohio, and as sensitive in Washington.^[8]

Cultivation

Vaccinium myrtilloides is cultivated and grown commercially in Canada and Maine, primarily harvested from managed wild patches. It is one of the sweetest blueberries known.

Native American ethnobotany

As cuisine

The Abenaki consume the fruit as part of their traditional diet.^[9] The Nihithawak Cree eat the berries raw, make them into jam and eat it with fish and bannock, and boil or pound the sun-dried berries into pemmican.^[10] The Hesquiaht First Nation make pies and preserves from the berries.^[11] The Hoh and Quileute consume the fruit raw, stew the berries and make them into a sauce, and can the berries and use them as a winter food.^[12] The Ojibwa make use of the berries, gathering and selling them, eating them fresh, sun drying and canning them for future use.^[13] The Nlaka'pamux make the berries into pies.^[14] The Algonquin people gather the fruit to eat and sell.^[15] The berries are part of Potawatomi traditional cuisine, and are eaten fresh, dried, and canned.^[16]

As medicine

The Nihithawak Cree use a decoction of leafy stems used to bring menstruation and prevent pregnancy, to make a person sweat, to slow excessive menstrual bleeding, to bring blood after childbirth, and to prevent miscarriage.^[10] The Potawatomi also use the root bark of the plant for an unspecified ailment.^[17]

Other uses

The Nihithawak Cree use the berries to dye porcupine quills.^[10]

References

^ NatureServe (1 December 2023). "Vaccinium myrtilloides". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
^ "Vaccinium myrtilloides". Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden.
^ Michaux, Flora Borealis-Americana 1: 234. 1803.
^ ^a ^b Vander Kloet, Sam P. (2009). "Vaccinium myrtilloides". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 8. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
^ ^a ^b Redpath, Lauren E.; Aryal, Rishi; Lynch, Nathan; Spencer, Jessica A.; Hulse-Kemp, Amanda M.; Ballington, James R.; Green, Jaimie; Bassil, Nahla; Hummer, Kim; Ranney, Thomas; Ashrafi, Hamid (2022). "Nuclear DNA contents and ploidy levels of North American Vaccinium species and interspecific hybrids". Scientia Horticulturae. 297. Elsevier BV: 110955. doi:10.1016/j.scienta.2022.110955. ISSN 0304-4238.
^ ^a ^b Hall, Susan H.; Galletta, G. J. (1971). "Comparative Chromosome Morphology of Diploid Vaccinium Species1". Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. 96 (3). American Society for Horticultural Science: 289–292. doi:10.21273/jashs.96.3.289. ISSN 0003-1062.
^ "Connecticut's Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species 2015". State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Bureau of Natural Resources. Retrieved 31 December 2017.(Note: This list is newer than the one used by plants.usda.gov and is more up-to-date.)
^ NRCS. "Vaccinium myrtilloides". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 26 December 2017.
^ Rousseau, Jacques, 1947, Ethnobotanique Abenakise, Archives de Folklore 11:145-182, page 152, 171
^ ^a ^b ^c Leighton, Anna L., 1985, Wild Plant Use by the Woods Cree (Nihithawak) of East-Central Saskatchewan, Ottawa. National Museums of Canada. Mercury Series, page 63
^ Turner, Nancy J. and Barbara S. Efrat, 1982, Ethnobotany of the Hesquiat Indians of Vancouver Island, Victoria. British Columbia Provincial Museum, page 67
^ Reagan, Albert B., 1936, Plants Used by the Hoh and Quileute Indians, Kansas Academy of Science 37:55-70, page 67
^ Reagan, Albert B., 1928, Plants Used by the Bois Fort Chippewa (Ojibwa) Indians of Minnesota, Wisconsin Archeologist 7(4):230-248, page 238
^ Turner, Nancy J., Laurence C. Thompson and M. Terry Thompson et al., 1990, Thompson Ethnobotany: Knowledge and Usage of Plants by the Thompson Indians of British Columbia, Victoria. Royal British Columbia Museum, page 218
^ Black, Meredith Jean, 1980, Algonquin Ethnobotany: An Interpretation of Aboriginal Adaptation in South Western Quebec, Ottawa. National Museums of Canada. Mercury Series Number 65, page 103
^ Smith, Huron H., 1933, Ethnobotany of the Forest Potawatomi Indians, Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee 7:1-230, page 99
^ Smith, Huron H., 1933, Ethnobotany of the Forest Potawatomi Indians, Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee 7:1-230, page 57

[1] NatureServe (1 December 2023). "Vaccinium myrtilloides". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 30 December 2023.

[2] "Vaccinium myrtilloides". Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden.

[3] Michaux, Flora Borealis-Americana 1: 234. 1803.

[FNA-4] Vander Kloet, Sam P. (2009). "Vaccinium myrtilloides". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 8. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.

[y832-5] Redpath, Lauren E.; Aryal, Rishi; Lynch, Nathan; Spencer, Jessica A.; Hulse-Kemp, Amanda M.; Ballington, James R.; Green, Jaimie; Bassil, Nahla; Hummer, Kim; Ranney, Thomas; Ashrafi, Hamid (2022). "Nuclear DNA contents and ploidy levels of North American Vaccinium species and interspecific hybrids". Scientia Horticulturae. 297. Elsevier BV: 110955. doi:10.1016/j.scienta.2022.110955. ISSN 0304-4238.

[v428-6] Hall, Susan H.; Galletta, G. J. (1971). "Comparative Chromosome Morphology of Diploid Vaccinium Species1". Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science. 96 (3). American Society for Horticultural Science: 289–292. doi:10.21273/jashs.96.3.289. ISSN 0003-1062.

[7] "Connecticut's Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species 2015". State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Bureau of Natural Resources. Retrieved 31 December 2017.(Note: This list is newer than the one used by plants.usda.gov and is more up-to-date.)

[8] NRCS. "Vaccinium myrtilloides". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 26 December 2017.

[9] Rousseau, Jacques, 1947, Ethnobotanique Abenakise, Archives de Folklore 11:145-182, page 152, 171

[Leighton,_Anna_L._1985,_page_63-10] Leighton, Anna L., 1985, Wild Plant Use by the Woods Cree (Nihithawak) of East-Central Saskatchewan, Ottawa. National Museums of Canada. Mercury Series, page 63

[11] Turner, Nancy J. and Barbara S. Efrat, 1982, Ethnobotany of the Hesquiat Indians of Vancouver Island, Victoria. British Columbia Provincial Museum, page 67

[12] Reagan, Albert B., 1936, Plants Used by the Hoh and Quileute Indians, Kansas Academy of Science 37:55-70, page 67

[13] Reagan, Albert B., 1928, Plants Used by the Bois Fort Chippewa (Ojibwa) Indians of Minnesota, Wisconsin Archeologist 7(4):230-248, page 238

[14] Turner, Nancy J., Laurence C. Thompson and M. Terry Thompson et al., 1990, Thompson Ethnobotany: Knowledge and Usage of Plants by the Thompson Indians of British Columbia, Victoria. Royal British Columbia Museum, page 218

[15] Black, Meredith Jean, 1980, Algonquin Ethnobotany: An Interpretation of Aboriginal Adaptation in South Western Quebec, Ottawa. National Museums of Canada. Mercury Series Number 65, page 103

[16] Smith, Huron H., 1933, Ethnobotany of the Forest Potawatomi Indians, Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee 7:1-230, page 99

[17] Smith, Huron H., 1933, Ethnobotany of the Forest Potawatomi Indians, Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee 7:1-230, page 57

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v t e Blueberries
Species	Vaccinium angustifolium Vaccinium boreale Vaccinium caesariense Vaccinium corymbosum Vaccinium darrowii Vaccinium elliottii Vaccinium fuscatum Vaccinium hirsutum Vaccinium koreanum Vaccinium meridionale Vaccinium myrsinites Vaccinium myrtilloides Vaccinium pallidum Vaccinium tenellum Vaccinium virgatum
General topics	Blueberry
As food	Bilberry Blåbärssoppa Blueberry pie Blueberry sauce
See also	Blueberry tea
Category: Blueberries