Vaccinium pallidum (Cape Cod Native Garden Plants)

Vaccinium pallidum

Description ⁴

This is a deciduous shrub about ½-3' tall that branches occasionally. Young branches are initially green, but they later become yellowish green and more or less covered with small warty dots. Young branches are usually glabrous, but sometimes they are slightly pubescent. Older branches become woody and vary in color from red to yellowish brown; on the trunk and very old branches, the bark becomes shredded. Alternate leaves occur along new branches. The blades of these leaves are ¾-2¼" long and ½-1" across; they are oval, ovate, obovate, or broadly elliptic in shape, and their margins are smooth or minutely toothed toward the tips of the blades. The upper surface of the leaf blades is medium green or yellowish green and glabrous (sometimes with reddish tints in bright sunlight), while the lower surface is pale green, glabrous, and sometimes glaucous. Less often, the lower surface of the leaf blades may be slightly pubescent. The petioles are short and slender. Raceme-like clusters of flowers develop from second-year branches. The pedicels of the flowers are light green and glabrous. Each flower (up to 1/3" in length) is longer than it is wide, consisting of a tubular corolla with 5 tiny recurved lobes, a short light green calyx with 5 broad teeth, 10 inserted stamens, and a pistil with a single style. The corolla is somewhat constricted toward its outer rim and it varies in color from greenish white to pink- or red-tinted cream. The blooming period occurs from late spring to early summer and lasts about 3 weeks. The flowers are replaced by globoid berries about ¼" across that are initially green, but they later become dark blue with a whitish bloom. The berries become mature during mid- to late summer; they are juicy and sweet, containing 8-20 tiny seeds that are less than 1.5 mm. in length. The woody root system is branched and shallow, forming underground runners that can produce clonal offsets. At favorable sites, colonies of clonal plants are often formed. The leaves become red to dark red during the autumn before they fall to the ground. Cultivation

Habitat characteristics ⁵

More info for the term: hardwood

Hillside blueberry grows on dry, rocky hillsides, upland ridges, rocky
outcrops and ledges, sandy knolls, and in shale barrens [14,58,61,53].
It commonly occurs on a variety of disturbed sites, such as abandoned
pastures and farmlands, along roadsides, and in clearcuts [14,44,58,61].
Hillside blueberry is a common component of dry, open woods but also
grows in hardwood swamps [51,61]. It generally occurs below 3,500 feet
(1,061 m) in elevation [14].

Soils: Hillside blueberry grows on dry, sandy or gravelly soils, as
well as on heavy clay [17,25,30]. It grows well on acidic soils [53].
Parent materials are variable but include chert, granite, gneiss, and
schist [25,30].

Climate: Hillside blueberry grows in a humid mesothermal climatic
regime [34]. Average annual precipitation amounts have been reported as
ranging from 39 to 47 inches (100-120 cm) [6,34,50].

National distribution ⁶

Canada

Origin: Unknown/Undetermined

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Unknown/Undetermined

Confidence: Confident

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Nature serve conservation status ⁷

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Sources and Credits

(c) "<a href=""http://www.knps.org"">Kentucky Native Plant Society</a>. Scanned by <a href=""http://www.omnitekinc.com/"">Omnitek Inc</a>.", some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=vapa4_001_avd.tif
(c) "<a href=""http://www.knps.org"">Kentucky Native Plant Society</a>. Scanned by <a href=""http://www.omnitekinc.com/"">Omnitek Inc</a>.", some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=vava_001_avd.tif
(c) "<a href=""http://nt.ars-grin.gov/"">ARS Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboratory</a>. United States, MD, Thurmont.", some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=vava_002_ahp.tif
(c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/25115408
Adapted by Jeff Holmes from a work by Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/24640169
Adapted by Jeff Holmes from a work by (c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/26630695
Adapted by Jeff Holmes from a work by (c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/15582681

More Info

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