Biology:Vaccinium uliginosum
| Vaccinium uliginosum | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Ericaceae |
| Genus: | Vaccinium |
| Species: | V. uliginosum
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| Binomial name | |
| Vaccinium uliginosum | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Vaccinium uliginosum (bog bilberry, bog blueberry,[2] northern bilberry or western blueberry)[3] is a Eurasian and North American flowering plant in the genus Vaccinium within the heath family.
Description
Vaccinium uliginosum is a small deciduous shrub growing to 10–75 centimetres (4–29 1⁄2 inches) tall, rarely 1 metre (3 1⁄2 feet) tall, with brown stems (unlike the green stems of the closely related bilberry). The leaves are oval, 4–30 millimetres (1⁄8–1 1⁄8 in) long and 2–15 mm (1⁄16–9⁄16 in) wide, blue-green with pale net-like veins, with a smooth margin and rounded apex.[4]
The flowers are pendulous, urn-shaped, pale pink, 4–6 mm (3⁄16–1⁄4 in) long, produced in mid spring. The fruit is a dark blue-black berry 5–8 mm (3⁄16–5⁄16 in) in diameter, with a white sweet flesh, ripe in late summer.[4]
Subspecies
Three subspecies have been described, but not all authorities distinguish them:[1][4]
- Vaccinium uliginosum subsp. microphyllum Lange – Arctic plants
- Vaccinium uliginosum subsp. occidentale (A.Gray) Hultén – North American plants
- Vaccinium uliginosum subsp. uliginosum
Distribution and habitat
The plant is native to cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, at low altitudes in the Arctic, Baltics, and at high altitudes south to the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Caucasus in Europe, the mountains of Mongolia, northern China , the Korean Peninsula and central Japan in Asia, and the Sierra Nevada in California and the Rocky Mountains in Utah in North America.[4][5][6][7]
It grows on wet acidic soils on heathland, moorland, tundra, and in the understory of coniferous forests, from sea level in the Arctic, up to 3,400 m (11,200 ft) altitude in the south of the range.
V. uliginosum can survive long, severe climatic oscillations.[8][9]
Uses
The berries can be eaten raw or cooked, used to make jelly or pies, or dried to make pemmican.[10]
In Korean cuisine, bog bilberry is used to make infused liquor (Deuljjuk-sul).
Bilberries on branches
Close-up of bilberries in Eastern Siberia
Bog bilberry liquor (left) produced in North Korea
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Vaccinium uliginosum". The Plant List. Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew). http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=Vaccinium+uliginosum.
- ↑ "Vaccinium uliginosum". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=VAUL.
- ↑ Wallace, Gary D. (2017), "Vaccinium uliginosum subsp. occidentale", in Jepson Flora Project, Jepson eFlora, The Jepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=53312, retrieved 18 July 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Vander Kloet, Sam P. (2009), "Vaccinium uliginosum", in Flora of North America Editorial Committee, Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA), 8, New York and Oxford, http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=
- ↑ Fang, Ruizheng; Steven, Peter F., "Vaccinium uliginosum", Flora of China, 14, http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=
- ↑ Altervista Flora Italiana, Falso mirtillo, Vaccinium uliginosum L.
- ↑ "Vaccinium uliginosum", State-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA) (Biota of North America Program (BONAP)), 2014, http://bonap.net/MapGallery/State/Vaccinium%20uliginosum.png
- ↑ Alexander, Jake M.; Chalmandrier, Loïc; Lenoir, Jonathan et al. (2017-11-27). "Lags in the response of mountain plant communities to climate change". Global Change Biology 24 (2): 563–579. doi:10.1111/gcb.13976. ISSN 1354-1013. PMID 29112781.
- ↑ De Witte, LC; Armbruster, GFJ; Gielly, L; Taberlet, P; Stocklin, J (2011-11-10). "AFLP markers reveal high clonal diversity and extreme longevity in four key arctic‐alpine species". Molecular Ecology 21 (5): 1081–1097. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294x.2011.05326.x. ISSN 0962-1083. PMID 22070158.
- ↑ Nyerges, Christopher (2017). Foraging Washington: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods. Guilford, CT: Falcon Guides. ISBN 978-1-4930-2534-3. OCLC 965922681. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/965922681.
Further reading
- Blamey, M.; Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. Hodder & Stoughton.
External links
- Calflora
- Jepson Manual treatment of Vaccinium uliginosum – flora of California.
- Flora Europaea: Vaccinium uliginosum
- Plants of British Columbia: Vaccinium uliginosum
Wikidata ☰ Q146967 entry
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