Vaccinium

Cladus: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Divisio: Magnoliophyta
Classis: Magnoliopsida
Ordo: Ericales
Familia: Ericaceae
Subfamilia: Vaccinioideae
Tribus: Vaccinieae
Genus: Vaccinium
Sectiones: V. sect. Batodendron - V. sect. Brachyceratium - V. sect. Bracteata - V. sect. Calcicolus - V. sect. Ciliata - V. sect. Cinctosandra - V. sect. Conchophyllum - V. sect. Cyanococcus - V. sect. Eococcus - V. sect. Epigynium - V. sect. Hemimyrtillus - V. sect. Herpothamnus - V. sect. Myrtillus - V. sect. Neurodesia - V. sect. Oarianthe - V. sect. Oxycoccoides - V. sect. Oxycoccus - V. sect. Pachyanthum - V. sect. Polycodium - V. sect. Pyxothamnus - V. sect. Vaccinium - V. sect. Vitis-Idaea

Species Overview: V. alaskaense - V. alto-montanum - V. amoemum - V. angustifolium - V. arboreum - V. boreale - V. caesariense - V. caespitosum - V. calycinum - V. corymbosum - V. crassifolium - V. darrowii - V. deliciosum - V. dentatum - V. elliottii - V. erythrocarpum - V. formosum - V. fuscatum - V. geminiflorum - V. hirsutum - V. macrocarpon - V. membranaceum - V. microcarpus - V. myrsinites - V. myrtilloides - V. myrtillus - V. occidentalis - V. ovalifolium - V. ovatum - V. oxycoccos - V. pallidum - V. palustre - V. parvifolium - V. pelenum - V. reticulatum - V. scoparium - V. simulatum - V. stamineum - V. tenellum - V. uliginosum - V. virgatum - V. vitis-idaea

References

* Vaccinium Report on ITIS

Vernacular names
Dansk: Bølle-slægten
Deutsch: Heidelbeeren
Nederlands: Bosbessen
中文: 越橘属

Vaccinium (pronounced /vækˈsɪniəm/)[2] is a genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the plant Family Ericaceae. The fruit of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry or whortleberry, lingonberry or cowberry, and huckleberry. Like many other ericaceous plants, they are generally restricted to acidic soils.

Distribution

The genus contains about 450 species, which are found mostly in the cooler areas of the Northern Hemisphere, although there are tropical species from areas as widely separated as Madagascar and Hawaii.

Etymology

The name vaccinium was used in classical Latin for a type of berry (probably the bilberry V. myrtillus), but its ultimate derivation is obscure; it is not the same word as vaccinum "of or pertaining to cows".[3]

Characteristics

The plants require acidic soils, and as wild plants they live in habitats such as heath, bog and acidic woodland. The plant structure varies between species – some trail along the ground, some are dwarf shrubs, and some are larger shrubs perhaps 1 to 2 m (3 to 7 ft) tall. The fruit develops from an inferior ovary, and is a berry; it is usually brightly coloured, often being red or bluish with purple juice.

Blueberry plants are commonly found in oak-heath forests in eastern North America. [4][5]
Food uses

Vaccinium species are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species – see list of Lepidoptera that feed on Vaccinium.

Taxonomy

The taxonomy is complex, and still under investigation. A number of the Asian species are more closely related to Agapetes than to other Vaccinium species.[6][7] A second group includes most of Orthaea and Notopora, at least some of Gaylussacia (huckleberry), and a number of species from Vaccinium, such as Vaccinium crassifolium.[6] Other parts of Vaccinium form other groups, sometimes together with species of other genera.[6]

Subgenera

A classification which predates molecular phylogeny divides Vaccinium into 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
o Vaccinium macrocarpon – American Cranberry
o Vaccinium microcarpum – Small Cranberry
o Vaccinium oxycoccus – Common Cranberry
* Sect. Oxycoccoides
o Vaccinium erythrocarpum – Southern Mountain Cranberry

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

* Sect. Batodendron
o Vaccinium arboreum - Sparkleberry (images)
o Vaccinium crassifolium - Creeping Blueberry
* Sect. Brachyceratium
o Vaccinium dependens
* Sect. Bracteata
o Vaccinium acrobracteatum
o Vaccinium barandanum
o Vaccinium bracteatum
o Vaccinium coriaceum
o Vaccinium cornigerum
o Vaccinium cruentum
o Vaccinium hooglandii
o Vaccinium horizontale
o Vaccinium laurifolium
o Vaccinium lucidum
o Vaccinium myrtoides
o Vaccinium phillyreoides
o Vaccinium reticulatovenosum
o Vaccinium sparsum
o Vaccinium varingifolium
* Sect. Ciliata
o Vaccinium ciliatum
o Vaccinium oldhamii
* Sect. Cinctosandra
o Vaccinium exul
* Sect. Conchophyllum
o Vaccinium corymbodendron
o Vaccinium delavayi
o Vaccinium emarginatum
o Vaccinium griffithianum
o Vaccinium meridionale
o Vaccinium moupinense – Himalayan Blueberry
o Vaccinium neilgherrense
o Vaccinium nummularia
o Vaccinium retusum
* Sect. Cyanococcus – blueberries
o Vaccinium angustifolium – Lowbush Blueberry
o Vaccinium boreale – Northern Blueberry
o Vaccinium caesariense – New Jersey Blueberry
o Vaccinium corymbosum – Highbush Blueberry
o Vaccinium darrowii – Evergreen Blueberry
o Vaccinium elliottii – Elliott's Blueberry
o Vaccinium formosum
o Vaccinium fuscatum – Black Highbush Blueberry; syn. V. atrococcum
o Vaccinium hirsutum
o Vaccinium koreanum
o Vaccinium myrsinites – Evergreen Blueberry
o Vaccinium myrtilloides – Canadian Blueberry
o Vaccinium pallidum Ait. – Dryland Blueberry (images); syn. V. vacillans Torr.
o Vaccinium simulatum
o Vaccinium tenellum
o Vaccinium virgatum – Rabbiteye Blueberry; syn. V. ashei
* Sect. Eococcus
o Vaccinium fragile
* Sect. Epigynium
o Vaccinium vacciniaceum
* Sect. Galeopetalum
o Vaccinium chunii
o Vaccinium dunalianum
o Vaccinium glaucoalbum
o Vaccinium urceolatum
* Sect. Hemimyrtillus
o Vaccinium arctostaphylos
o Vaccinium cylindraceum
o Vaccinium hirtum
o Vaccinium padifolium
o Vaccinium smallii
* Sect. Myrtillus
o Vaccinium calycinum Sm. - Ōhelo kau laʻau (Hawaiʻi)
o Vaccinium cespitosum – Dwarf Bilberry
o Vaccinium deliciosum – Cascade Bilberry
o Vaccinium dentatum Sm. - Ōhelo (Hawaiʻi)
o Vaccinium membranaceum
o Vaccinium myrtillus – Bilberry,[8] Blue Whortleberry, Blaeberry,[8] Hurtleberry or Fraughan.
o Vaccinium ovalifolium – Alaska Blueberry; syn. V. alaskaense
o Vaccinium parvifolium – Red Huckleberry
o Vaccinium praestans - Krasnika in Russian (Russian: Красника)
o Vaccinium reticulatum Sm. - Ōhelo ʻai (Hawaiʻi)
o Vaccinium scoparium – Grouse Whortleberry
* Sect. Neurodesia
o Vaccinium crenatum
* Sect. Oarianthe
o Vaccinium ambyandrum
o Vaccinium cyclopense
* Sect. Oreades
o Vaccinium poasanum
* Sect. Pachyanthum
o Vaccinium fissiflorum
* Sect. Polycodium
o Vaccinium stamineum L. - Deerberry; syn. V. caesium (Eastern North America) (images)
* Sect. Pyxothamnus
o Vaccinium consanguineum
o Vaccinium floribundum
o Vaccinium ovatum Pursh - California Huckleberry (Coastal Western North America)
* Sect. Vaccinium
o Vaccinium uliginosum L. - Northern (or Bog) Bilberry; syn. V. occidentale (Northern North America and Eurasia)
* Sect. Vitis-idaea
o Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. - Partridgeberry, Cowberry, Redberry, Red Whortleberry, or Lingonberry (northern North America and Eurasia)

References

1. ^ "Vaccinium Linnaeus". Index Nominum Genericorum. International Association for Plant Taxonomy. 2003-02-05. http://botany.si.edu/ing/INGsearch.cfm?searchword=Vaccinium. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
2. ^ Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
3. ^ P. G. W. Glare (editor) (1996). Oxford Latin Dictionary. pp. 2000. ISBN 0-19-864224-5
4. ^ The Natural Communities of Virginia Classification of Ecological Community Groups (Version 2.3), Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2010
5. ^ Schafale, M. P. and A. S. Weakley. 1990. Classification of the natural communities of North Carolina: third approximation. North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation.
6. ^ a b c Kathleen A. Kron, E. Ann Powell and J. L. Luteyn (2002). "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". American Journal of Botany 89: 327–336. doi:10.3732/ajb.89.2.327. http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/89/2/327.
7. ^ "Vaccinium". Flora of China. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=134285.
8. ^ a b Vaccinium myrtillus L., GRIN Taxonomy for Plants, citing Wiersema, J. H. & B. León (1999), World economic plants: a standard reference, and Huxley, A., ed. (1992), The new Royal Horticultural Society dictionary of gardening