Vaccinium is a genus of shrubs in the plant Family Ericaceae including the cranberry, blueberry, lingonberry or whortleberry, bilberry, and huckleberry. The genus contains about 450 species, which are found mostly in the cooler areas of the Northern Hemisphere, although there are tropical species from as widely separated areas as Madagascar and Hawai'i. The plants prefer heath landscapes, as well as open forests. The name Vaccinium is of obscure derivation, but has nothing to do with cows, despite the similarity in the name to the Latin vacca for a cow.

The fruit develops from an inferior ovary, and is botanically a false berry.

Vaccinium species are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species - see list of Lepidoptera which feed on Vaccinium.

The taxonomy is complex, and still under investigation; there are two subgenera, and several sections:

Subgenus Oxycoccus: The cranberries, with slender, trailing, wiry non-woody shoots and strongly reflexed flower petals. Some botanists treat Oxycoccus as a distinct genus.

• Sect. Oxycoccus
  • Vaccinium macrocarpon (American Cranberry)
  • Vaccinium microcarpum (Small Cranberry)
  • Vaccinium oxycoccus (Common Cranberry)
• Sect. Oxycoccoides
  • Vaccinium erythrocarpum (Southern Mountain Cranberry)

  Subgenus Vaccinium: All the other species, with thicker, upright woody shoots and bell-shaped flowers.

  • Sect. Batodendron
    • Vacciuium arboreum (Sparkleberry) (images)
    • Vacciuium crassifolium
  • Sect. Brachyceratium
    • Vaccinium dependens
  • Sect. Bracteata
    • Vaccinium acrobracteatum
    • Vaccinium barandanum
    • Vaccinium bracteatum
    • Vaccinium coriaceum
    • Vaccinium cornigerum
    • Vaccinium cruentum
    • Vaccinium hooglandii
    • Vaccinium horizontale
    • Vaccinium laurifolium
    • Vaccinium lucidum
    • Vaccinium myrtoides
    • Vaccinium phillyreoides
    • Vaccinium reticulatovenosum
    • Vaccinium sparsum
    • Vaccinium varingifolium
  • Sect. Ciliata
    • Vaccinium ciliatum
    • Vaccinium oldhamii
  • Sect. Cinctosandra
    • Vaccinium exul
  • Sect. Conchophyllum
    • Vaccinium corymbodendron
    • Vaccinium delavayi
    • Vaccinium emarginatum
    • Vaccinium griffithianum
    • Vaccinium meridionale
    • Vaccinium moupinense (Himalayan Blueberry)
    • Vaccinium neilgherrense
    • Vaccinium nummularia
    • Vaccinium retusum
  • Sect. Cyanococcus (blueberries)
    • Vaccinium angustifolium (Lowbush Blueberry)
    • Vaccinium boreale
    • Vaccinium caesariense
    • Vaccinium corymbosum (Highbush Blueberry)
    • Vaccinium darrowii
    • Vaccinium elliottii
    • Vaccinium formosum
    • Vaccinium fuscatum (Black Highbush Blueberry; syn. V. atrococcum)
    • Vaccinium hirsutum
    • Vaccinium koreanum
    • Vaccinium myrsinites (Evergreen Blueberry)
    • Vaccinium myrtilloides (Canadian Blueberry)
    • Vaccinium pallidum (Dryland Blueberry) (images)
    • Vaccinium simulatum
    • Vaccinium tenellum
    • Vaccinium virgatum (Rabbiteye Blueberry; syn. V. ashei)
  • Sect. Eococcus
    • Vaccinium fragile
  • Sect. Epigynium
    • Vaccinium vacciniaceum
  • Sect. Galeopetalum
    • Vaccinium chunii
    • Vaccinium dunalianum
    • Vaccinium glaucoalbum
    • Vaccinium urceolatum
  • Sect. Hemimyrtillus
    • Vaccinium arctostaphylos
    • Vaccinium cylindraceum
    • Vaccinium hirtum
    • Vaccinium padifolium
    • Vaccinium smallii
  • Sect. Myrtillus
    • Vaccinium calycinum
    • Vaccinium cespitosum
    • Vaccinium deliciosum (Cascade Bilberry)
    • Vaccinium dentatum
    • Vaccinium membranaceum
    • Vaccinium myrtillus (Bilberry)
    • Vaccinium ovalifolium
    • Vaccinium parvifolium (Red Huckleberry)
    • Vaccinium praestans
    • Vaccinium reticulatum (ohelo 'ai)
    • Vaccinium scoparium (Grouse Whortleberry)
  • Sect. Neurodesia
    • Vaccinium crenatum
  • Sect. Oarianthe
    • Vaccinium ambyandrum
    • Vaccinium cyclopense
  • Sect. Oreades
    • Vaccinium poasanum
  • Sect. Pachyanthum
    • Vaccinium fissiflorum
  • Sect. Polycodium
    • Vaccinium stamineum (Deerberry; syn. V. caesium) (images)
  • Sect. Pyxothamnus
    • Vaccinium consanguineum
    • Vaccinium floribundum
    • Vaccinium ovatum (California Huckleberry)
  • Sect. Vaccinium
    • Vaccinium uliginosum (Northern Bilberry; syn. V. occidentale)
  • Sect. Vitis-idaea
    • Vaccinium vitis-idaea (Cowberry, Lingonberry)

References and external links

• Germplasm Resources Information Network: Vaccinium

Ericaceae

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