Vaccinium elliottii

Vaccinium elliottii
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 (5-10 feet) tall, with small, simple ovoid-acute leaves 15-30 mm (0.5-3.2 inches) 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.

Gallery

See also

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, August 13, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.