Vaccinium elliottii

Elliott's blueberry
Plant in flower
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Vaccinium
Species: V. elliotti
Binomial name
Vaccinium elliottii
Chapm. 1860
Synonyms[1]
  • Cyanococcus elliottii (Chapm.) Small

Vaccinium elliottii (Elliott's blueberry) is a species of Vaccinium in the blueberry group (Vaccinium sect. Cyanococcus). It is native to the southeastern and south-central United States, from southeastern Virginia south to Florida, and west to Arkansas and Texas.

Growth

Vaccinium elliottii is a deciduous shrub 2–4 m (6.6–13.1 ft) tall, with small, simple ovoid-acute leaves 15–30 mm (0.59–1.18 in) long with a finely serrated margin. The flowers are pale pink, bell-shaped, 6–8 mm long, opening in the early spring before the new leaves appear.

The fruit is an edible berry 5–8 mm diameter. There are two variants one having tart shiny blue black berries and the other sweeter type having a whitish waxy bloom over the otherwise blue black berries; they ripen from late spring (in Florida) through summer (in Arkansas and Virginia).

Cultivation and uses

Vaccinium elliottii produces a particularly large yield of somewhat sour berries. It is popular for late-season fruit.

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.