Vaccinium

{{Short description|Genus of berry-producing shrubs in the heath family}} {{About|the plant genus|the virus related to smallpox|Vaccinia}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Vaccinium.jpg | image_caption = ''Vaccinium'' berries (clockwise from top left): Red huckleberries, cranberries, lingonberries and blueberries | display_parents = 2 | taxon = Vaccinium | authority = L. | type_species = ''Vaccinium uliginosum''<ref name="ing">{{cite web |url=http://botany.si.edu/ing/INGsearch.cfm?searchword=Vaccinium |title=''Vaccinium'' Linnaeus |access-date = 2008-05-09 |date=2003-02-05 |work=Index Nominum Genericorum |publisher=International Association for Plant Taxonomy}}</ref> | synonyms_ref = <ref>{{cite web |title=''Vaccinium'' L. |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30000401-2 |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=1 June 2025}}</ref> | synonyms = {{collapsible list|bullets = true |title= |''Andreusia'' {{small|Dunal}} |''Batodendron'' {{small|Nutt.}} |''Cavinium'' {{small|Thouars}} |''Cyanococcus'' {{small|Rydb.}} |''Disiphon'' {{small|Schltr.}} |''Epigynium'' {{small|Klotzsch}} |''Herpothamnus'' {{small|Small}} |''Hornemannia'' {{small|Vahl, nom. illeg.}} |''Hugeria'' {{small|Small}} |''Malea'' {{small|Lundell}} |''Metagonia'' {{small|Nutt.}} |''Myrtillus'' {{small|Gilib., opus utique oppr.}} |''Neojunghuhnia'' {{small|Koord.}} |''Oxycoca'' {{small|Raf.}} |''Oxycoccoides'' {{small|(Benth. & Hook.f.) Nakai, nom. superfl.}} |''Oxycoccus'' {{small|Hill}} |''Peyrusa'' {{small|Rich. ex Dunal, pro syn.}} |''Picrococcus'' {{small|Nutt.}} |''Polycodium'' {{small|Raf.}} |''× Rhodocinium'' {{small|Avrorin}} |''Rhodococcum'' {{small|(Rupr.) Avrorin}} |''Schollera'' {{small|Roth, nom. superfl.}} |''Symphysia'' {{small|C.Presl}} |''Tauschia'' {{small|Preissler, nom. rej.}} |''Vitis-idaea'' {{small|Ség.}} }} }}

'''''Vaccinium''''' ({{IPAc-en|v|æ|k|ˈ|s|ɪ|n|i|ə|m}} {{respell|vak|SIN|ee|əm}})<ref>{{cite book |title=Sunset Western Garden Book |year=1995 |pages=606–607 |isbn=}}</ref> is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry (whortleberry), lingonberry (cowberry), and huckleberry. Like many other heath plants, they are restricted to acidic soils.

==Description== The plant structure varies between species: some trail along the ground, some are dwarf shrubs, and some are larger shrubs perhaps {{Convert|1 to 2|m|ft|sigfig=1|abbr=off}} tall. Some tropical species are epiphytic.<ref name="TGViNA">{{Cite book |title=The Genus Vaccinium in North America |last=Vander Kloet |first=Samuel P. |publisher=Research Branch, Agriculture Canada |year=1988 |location=Ottawa, Canada}}</ref> Stems are usually woody. Species found in tropical bioregions like Malesia are evergreen.<ref name="FM"/>

Flowers are epigynous with fused petals and have long styles that protrude from their bell-shaped corollas. Stamens have anthers with extended tube-like structures called "awns" through which pollen falls when mature.<ref name="FM"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Palser |first=Barbara F. |date=December 1961 |title=Studies of Floral Morphology in the Ericales. V. Organography and Vascular Anatomy in Several United States Species of the Vacciniaceae |journal=Botanical Gazette |volume=123 |issue=2 |pages=79–111 |doi=10.1086/336134 |s2cid=85148687 |issn=0006-8071}}</ref> Inflorescences can be axillary or terminal.<ref name="TGViNA" />

The fruit develops from an inferior ovary and is a four- or five-parted berry; it is usually brightly coloured, often red or bluish with purple juice. Its seeds are small and smooth on the surface.<ref name="FM">{{cite journal|last=Sleumer |first=H. |date=January 1960 |title=Ericaceae |url=https://repository.naturalis.nl/pub/532600 |journal=Flora Malesiana |volume=6 |issue=4 |page=746}}</ref> Roots are commonly mycorrhizal, which likely help the plants to access nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in the acidic, nutrient-poor soils they inhabit.<ref name="TGViNA" />

==Taxonomy== The genus was first described scientifically by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.<ref name="ing"/> The name ''Vaccinium'' was used in classical Latin for a plant, possibly the bilberry or a hyacinth, and may be derived from the Latin ''bacca'', meaning berry, although its ultimate derivation is obscure.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hyam |first1=R. |last2=Pankhurst |first2=R.J. |year=1995 |title=Plants and their names : a concise dictionary |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-866189-4 |name-list-style=amp}} p. 515.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Coombes |first=Allen J. |year=1994 |title=Dictionary of Plant Names |location=London |publisher=Hamlyn Books |isbn=978-0-600-58187-1}} p. 187.</ref> It is not the same word as ''Vaccinum'', which means "of or pertaining to cows".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Oxford Latin Dictionary |pages=2000 |editor=P.G.W. Glare |isbn=0-19-864224-5 |year=1996|publisher=Clarendon Press }}</ref>

The taxonomy of the genus is complex and still under investigation. Genetic analyses indicate that the genus ''Vaccinium'' is not monophyletic.<ref name="kron">{{cite journal |title=Phylogenetic relationships within the blueberry tribe (Vaccinieae, Ericaceae) based on sequence data from MATK and nuclear ribosomal ITS regions, with comments on the placement of ''Satyria'' |author1=Kathleen A. Kron |author2=E. Ann Powell |author3=J. L. Luteyn |journal=American Journal of Botany |year=2002 |volume=89 |pages=327–336 |doi=10.3732/ajb.89.2.327 |issue=2 |pmid=21669741}}</ref> A number of the Asian species are more closely related to ''Agapetes'' than to other ''Vaccinium'' species.<ref name="kron" /><ref>{{eFloras |2 |134285 |Vaccinium |family=Ericaceae |last1=Fang |first1=Ruizheng |first2=Peter F. |last2=Stevens}}</ref> A second group includes most of ''Orthaea'' and ''Notopora'', at least some of ''Gaylussacia'' (huckleberry), and a number of species from ''Vaccinium'', such as ''V.&nbsp;crassifolium''.<ref name="kron" /> Other parts of ''Vaccinium'' form other groups, sometimes together with species of other genera.<ref name="kron" /> The taxonomy of ''Vaccinium'' can either be resolved by enlarging the genus to include the entirety of the tribe Vaccinieae or by breaking the genus up into several genera.<ref name="kron" />

Two fossil seeds of ''V. minutulum'' have been extracted from borehole samples of the Middle Miocene freshwater deposits in Nowy Sacz Basin, West Carpathians, Poland.<ref>Łańcucka-Środoniowa M.: Macroscopic plant remains from the freshwater Miocene of the Nowy Sącz Basin (West Carpathians, Poland) [Szczątki makroskopowe roślin z miocenu słodkowodnego Kotliny Sądeckiej (Karpaty Zachodnie, Polska)]. Acta Palaeobotanica 1979 20 (1): 3–117.</ref>{{Additional source needed|date=January 2024}}

===Subgenera=== {{main|List of Vaccinium species|l1=List of ''Vaccinium'' species}} [[File:Vaccinium oxycoccos Ypey28.jpg|thumbnail|upright=.7|right|''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', the common cranberry, one kind of cranberry]] A classification predating molecular phylogeny divides ''Vaccinium'' into subgenera and several sections: {{Div col}} ;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 oxycoccos'' – common cranberry **''Vaccinium microcarpum'' – small bog cranberry<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gbif.org/species/7135733 |title=GBIF: ''Vaccinium microcarpum'' |access-date=2016-10-17}}</ref><ref>{{EOL|2891482|Vaccinium microcarpum|access-date=2016-10-17}}</ref> *Sect. ''Oxycoccoides'' **''Vaccinium erythrocarpum'' – southern mountain cranberry **''Vaccinium japonicum'' – mountain blueberry ;Subgenus '''''Vaccinium''''': All the other species, with thicker, upright woody shoots and bell-shaped flowers. *Sect. ''Batodendron'' **''Vaccinium arboreum'' – sparkleberry **''Vaccinium crassifolium'' – creeping blueberry *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'' - Japanese blueberry *Sect. ''Cinctosandra'' **''Vaccinium exul'' *Sect. ''Conchophyllum'' **''Vaccinium corymbodendron'' **''Vaccinium delavayi'' **''Vaccinium emarginatum'' **''Vaccinium griffithianum'' **''Vaccinium moupinense'' – Himalayan blueberry **''Vaccinium neilgherrense'' **''Vaccinium nummularia'' **''Vaccinium retusum'' *Sect. ''Cyanococcus'' – typical North American blueberries **''Vaccinium angustifolium'' – lowbush blueberry - also known as ''Vaccinium stenophyllum''<ref>{{Tropicos|12302882|Vaccinium stenophyllum}}</ref> **''Vaccinium boreale'' – northern blueberry **''Vaccinium caesariense'' – New Jersey blueberry **''Vaccinium corymbosum'' – highbush blueberry **''Vaccinium darrowii'' – evergreen blueberry **''Vaccinium elliottii'' – Elliott's blueberry **''Vaccinium formosum'' **''Vaccinium fuscatum'' – black highbush blueberry; syn. ''V.&nbsp;atrococcum'' **''Vaccinium hirsutum'' **''Vaccinium myrsinites'' – evergreen blueberry **''Vaccinium myrtilloides'' – Canadian blueberry **''Vaccinium pallidum'' <small>Ait.</small> – dryland blueberry;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/frame/vapa4.htm |title=''Vaccinium pallidum'' Aiton |website=www.cas.Vanderbilt.edu |access-date=13 June 2017 |archive-date=25 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425082800/http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/frame/vapa4.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> syn. ''V. vacillans'' <small>Torr.</small> **''Vaccinium simulatum'' **''Vaccinium tenellum'' **''Vaccinium virgatum'' – rabbiteye blueberry; syn. ''V.&nbsp;ashei'' *Sect. ''Eococcus'' **''Vaccinium fragile'' *Sect. ''Epigynium'' **''Vaccinium vacciniaceum'' *Sect. ''Galeopetalum'' **''Vaccinium chunii'' **''Vaccinium dunalianum'' **''Vaccinium glaucoalbum'' **''Vaccinium sikkimense'' (may not be treated as a separate species from ''V.&nbsp;glaucoalbum'') **''Vaccinium urceolatum'' *Sect. ''Hemimyrtillus'' **''Vaccinium arctostaphylos'' **''Vaccinium cylindraceum'' **''Vaccinium hirtum'' **''Vaccinium padifolium'' – Madeira blueberry **''Vaccinium smallii'' *Sect. ''Koreanum'' **''Vaccinium koreanum'' – Korean blueberry *Sect. ''Myrtillus'' (including sect. ''Macropelma'') – bilberries and relatives. Monophyly of this section has been confirmed by matK and nuclear ribosomal ITS sequence data.<ref name="kron" /> **''Vaccinium calycinum'' <small>Sm.</small> – {{lang|haw|ʻōhelo kau laʻau}} (Hawai{{okina}}i) **''Vaccinium cereum'' <small>(L.f.) Forst.f.</small> – east Polynesian blueberry, Pacific blueberry **''Vaccinium cespitosum'' – dwarf bilberry **''Vaccinium deliciosum'' – Cascade bilberry, Cascade blueberry, blueleaf huckleberry **''Vaccinium dentatum'' <small>Sm.</small> – {{lang|haw|ʻōhelo}} (Hawai{{okina}}i) **''Vaccinium membranaceum'' – square-twig blueberry, thinleaf huckleberry, tall huckleberry, big huckleberry, mountain huckleberry, "black huckleberry" **''Vaccinium myrtillus'' – common bilberry, blue whortleberry, blaeberry, fraughan, hurtleberry **''Vaccinium ovalifolium'' – Alaska blueberry, early blueberry, oval-leaf blueberry **''Vaccinium parvifolium'' – red huckleberry **''Vaccinium praestans'' – ''krasnika'' ({{langx|ru|красника}}), Kamchatka bilberry **''Vaccinium reticulatum'' – {{lang|haw|ʻōhelo ʻai}} (Hawai{{okina}}i) **''Vaccinium scoparium'' – grouse whortleberry, grouseberry, littleleaf huckleberry **''Vaccinium shastense'' - Shasta huckleberry *Sect. ''Neurodesia'' **''Vaccinium crenatum'' *Sect. ''Oarianthe'' **''Vaccinium amblyandrum'' **''Vaccinium cyclopense'' *Sect. ''Oreades'' **''Vaccinium poasanum'' *Sect. ''Pachyanthum'' **''Vaccinium fissiflorum'' *Sect. ''Polycodium'' **''Vaccinium stamineum'' <small>L.</small> – deerberry; syn. ''V.&nbsp;caesium'' (eastern North America) (images<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/frame/vast.htm |title=''Vaccinium stamineum'' L. |website=www.cas.Vanderbilt.edu |access-date=13 June 2017 |archive-date=25 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425085811/http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/frame/vast.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref>) *Sect. ''Pyxothamnus'' **''Vaccinium chihuahuense'' **''Vaccinium confertum'' **''Vaccinium consanguineum'' **''Vaccinium corymbodendron'' **''Vaccinium floribundum'' **''Vaccinium meridionale'' **''Vaccinium ovatum'' <small>Pursh</small> – California huckleberry (or evergreen huckleberry) (coastal western North America). First collected and described for western science by Meriwether Lewis.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://plantsystematics.org/reveal/pbio/LnC/LnCpublic9.html |title=Lewis and Clark Herbarium - Plants collected by Lewis and Clark |website=plantsystematics.org|access-date=2019-12-20}}</ref> *Sect. ''Vaccinium'' **''Vaccinium uliginosum'' <small>L.</small> – northern (or bog) bilberry (or blueberry); syn. ''V.&nbsp;occidentale'' (northern North America and Eurasia) *Sect. ''Vitis-idaea'' **''Vaccinium vitis-idaea'' <small>L.</small> – partridgeberry, cowberry, redberry, red whortleberry, or lingonberry (northern North America and Eurasia) {{Div col end}}

==Distribution and habitat== The genus contains about 450 species,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vaccinium.org/species |title=''vaccinium'' species |access-date=20 August 2016}}</ref> which are found mostly in the cooler areas of the Northern Hemisphere. However, there are tropical species from areas as widely separated as Madagascar and Hawaii. The genus is distributed worldwide except for Australia and Antarctica, but areas of great ''Vaccinium'' diversity include the montane regions of North and South America, as well as Southeast Asia.<ref name="TGViNA" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tsutsumi |first=Chie |date=May 22, 2011 |title=The Phylogenetic Positions of Four Endangered Vaccinium Species in Japan |url=https://www.kahaku.go.jp/research/publication/botany/download/37_2/BNMNS_B370204.pdf |journal=Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science |volume=37 |pages=79–86}}</ref> Species are still being discovered in the Andes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pedraza-Peñalosa |first1=Paola |last2=Luteyn |first2=James L. |date=2011-06-01 |title=Andean Vaccinium (Ericaceae: Vaccinieae): Seven new species from South America |journal=Brittonia |language=en |volume=63 |issue=2 |pages=257–275 |doi=10.1007/s12228-010-9164-y |bibcode=2011Britt..63..257P |s2cid=40949853 |issn=1938-436X}}</ref>

Plants of this group typically require acidic soils, and as wild plants, they live in habitats such as heath, bog and acidic woodland (for example, blueberries under oaks or pines). Blueberry plants are commonly found in oak-heath forests in eastern North America.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/ncTIIIe.shtml |title=''The Natural Communities of Virginia Classification of Ecological Community Groups'' (Version 2.3), Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2010 |website=Virginia.gov |access-date= 13 June 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110105224138/http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/ncTIIIe.shtml |archive-date= 5 January 2011 |url-status= dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Schafale, M. P. |name-list-style=amp |author2=Weakley, A. S. |year=1990 |title=Classification of the natural communities of North Carolina: third approximation |publisher=North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation}}</ref> ''Vaccinium'' is found in both successional and stable sites, and it is fire-adapted in many regions, withstanding low-intensity burns, and re-sprouting from rhizomes when above-ground tissues are burned off.<ref name="TGViNA" />

==Ecology== ''Vaccinium'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species. Berries of North American species nourish a variety of mammals and birds, notably including the grizzly bear.<ref name="TGViNA" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mace, R. D., & Jonkel, C. J. |date=1986 |title=Local food habits of the grizzly bear in Montana |journal=Bears: Their Biology and Management |volume=6 |pages=105–110 |doi=10.2307/3872813 |jstor=3872813}}</ref>

== Cultivation == [[File:Cranberrys beim Ernten.jpeg|thumb|upright=1.2|Harvesting cranberries, New Jersey, U.S.]]

Blueberries (sect. Cyanococcus) and cranberries (sect. Oxycoccus) are relatively newly cultivated plants and are largely unchanged from their wild relatives. Genetic breeding of blueberries began around the turn of the 20th century. It was spearheaded by Frederick Coville, who performed many cross-breeding trials and produced dozens of new blueberry cultivars.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Experiments in Blueberry Culture |last=Coville |first=F. V. |publisher=US Government Printing Office |year=1910}}</ref> He often tested new cultivars for their flavor, claiming after a long day of tasting that "all blueberries taste the same, and all taste sour."<ref name=":1" />

==See also== *''Malea pilosa'' *''Gaylussacia''

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Vaccinium}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090115013058/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?12610 ''Vaccinium'' information from U.S. National Plant Germplasm System] *[http://www.nature.british-towns.net/nature/07_specie_menu.asp?GetLGID=39235&page=1 British Towns and Villages Network, ''Vaccinium''; Species of the Genus ''Vaccinium''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305150615/http://www.nature.british-towns.net/nature/07_specie_menu.asp?GetLGID=39235&page=1 |date=2016-03-05 }}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q5079636}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Vaccinium Category:Ericaceae genera Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Category:Subshrubs Category:Taxa described in 1753