Vaccinium canadense
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Vaccinium canadense' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Genus
Common Names
- Sour-top
- Velvet Leaf
Other taxa in genus
- Vaccinium angustifolium
- Vaccinium arboreum
- Vaccinium arctostaphylos
- Vaccinium bracteatum
- Vaccinium caespitosum
- Vaccinium corymbosum
- Vaccinium crassifolium
- Vaccinium delavayi
- Vaccinium duclouxii
- Vaccinium dunalianum
- Vaccinium erythrocarpum
- Vaccinium floribundum
- Vaccinium fragile
- Vaccinium glauco-album
- Vaccinium hirsutum
- Vaccinium × intermedium
- Vaccinium japonicum
- Vaccinium macrocarpum
- Vaccinium membranaceum
- Vaccinium moupinense
- Vaccinium myrsinites
- Vaccinium myrtillus
- Vaccinium nummularia
- Vaccinium oldhamii
- Vaccinium ovalifolium
- Vaccinium ovatum
- Vaccinium oxycoccus
- Vaccinium padifolium
- Vaccinium parvifolium
- Vaccinium praestans
- Vaccinium stamineum
- Vaccinium uliginosum
- Vaccinium urceolatum
- Vaccinium vacillans
- Vaccinium virgatum
- Vaccinium vitis-idaea
A low, much-branched deciduous shrub usually under 1 ft high; shoots very downy, even bristly. Leaves 3⁄4 to 11⁄2 in. long, 1⁄8 to 1⁄2 in. wide, narrowly oval, pointed, not toothed, downy on both sides. Flowers produced during May along with the young leaves in short dense clusters. Corolla bell-shaped, 1⁄4 in. or less long, white tinged with red. Berries blue-black, 1⁄4 in. or more wide, very agreeably flavoured. Bot. Mag., t. 3446.
Native of eastern N. America; introduced in 1834. It has been much confused in gardens with the various forms of V. angustifolium, but is readily distinguished by its very downy entire leaves. Like that species, it gives a valuable wild fruit, its berries ripening later, and forming a useful succession to the other in N. America.
It is a matter of controversy whether this is the species described by Michaux as V. myrtilloides. Some authorities have adopted this name (1803) and reduced V. canadense Richards. (1823) to synonymy under it. Others hold that V. myrtilloides was simply a downy variety of V. angustifolium, var. myrtilloides (Michx.) House.