Vaccinium angustifolium

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Ordo: Ericales

Familia: Ericaceae
Subfamilia: Vaccinioideae
Tribus: Vaccinieae
Genus: Vaccinium
Sectio: V. sect. Cyanococcus
Species: Vaccinium angustifolium
Name

Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton,
Synonyms

Cyanococcus angustifolius (Ait.) Rydb.
Cyanococcus pensylvanicus (Lam.) Rydb.
Vaccinium angustifolium var. hypolasium Fernald
Vaccinium angustifolium var. laevifolium House
Vaccinium angustifolium var. nigrum (Alph.Wood) Dole
Vaccinium brittonii Porter ex Cockayne
Vaccinium humile Willd.
Vaccinium lamarckii Camp
Vaccinium minutiflorum Wats.
Vaccinium multiflorum Dun.
Vaccinium nigrum (Wood) Britt.
Vaccinium pensylvanicum Lam.
Vaccinium ramulosum Willd.
Vaccinium salicinum Aschers.
Vaccinium tenellum Pursh

Homonyms

Vaccinium angustifolium Benth. = Vaccinium stenophyllum Steud.

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Northern America
USA (Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin, West Virginia), Canada (Labrador, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Isl., Quebec), St. Pierre et Miquelon

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Aiton, W. 1789. Hortus Kewensis; or, a catalogue of the plants cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. Vol. I. Monandria–Heptandria. XXX+496 pp., tt. 1–6. George Nicol, London. BHL Reference page. : 2:11.

Links

Hassler, M. 2020. Vaccinium angustifolium. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2020. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 May 28. Reference page.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Vaccinium angustifolium in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 May 28. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2020. Vaccinium angustifolium. Published online. Accessed: May 28 2020.
Tropicos.org 2020. Vaccinium angustifolium. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 May 28.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. May 28 in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 2020.

Vernacular names
English: lowbush blueberry
suomi: Kanadanmustikka
français: Airelle à feuilles étroites
Nederlands: laagblijvende blauwbesstruik, lage blauwe bosbes
Vaccinium angustifolium, commonly known as the wild lowbush blueberry, is a species of blueberry native to eastern and central Canada (from Manitoba to Newfoundland) and the northeastern United States, growing as far south as the Great Smoky Mountains and west to the Great Lakes region.[3][4]

Etymology

The species epithet angustifolium is a combination of the Latin words angustum meaning 'narrow', and folium meaning 'leaf'. It shares this epithet with other species of plants including Epilobium angustifolium.
Description
V. angustifolium growing in a forest of another fire-adapted species, Pinus banksiana

Vaccinium angustifolium is a low spreading deciduous shrub growing 5 to 60 cm (2 to 24 in) tall.[5] Its rhizomes can lay dormant up to 100 years, and when given the adequate amount of sunlight, soil moisture, and oxygen content they will sprout. The leaves are glossy blue-green in summer, turning a variety of reds in the fall. The leaf shape is broad to elliptical. Buds are brownish red in stem axils. The flowers are white, bell-shaped, 4 to 6 mm (0.16 to 0.24 in) long. The fruit is a small sweet dark blue to black berry, full of antioxidants and flavonoids. This plant grows best in wooded areas, old abandoned farmyards or open areas with well-drained acidic soils. In some areas it produces natural blueberry barrens, where it is practically the only species covering large areas.[6]

Several buds may be on a healthy stem, and each bud can open up and have several blossoms. A blueberry field that has full plant coverage can have as many as 150 million blossoms per acre.

The Vaccinium angustifolium plant is fire-tolerant, and its numbers often increase in an area following a forest fire. Traditionally, blueberry growers burn their fields every few years to eliminate shrubs and fertilize the soil. In Acadian French, a blueberry field is known as a brûlis (from brûlé 'burnt') because of that technique, which is still in use.
Distribution and habitat

The lowbush blueberry is native to Canada, Maine, and Massachusetts and also grown commercially there, mainly harvested from managed wild patches. It is also a favorite of recreational berry pickers, black bears, coyotes, racoons, foxes, porcupines, white-tailed deer and birds. To help keep the unwanted individuals out of the blueberry fields and from damaging or eating the crop, growers will fence their fields and connect power or use an automated surround sound speaker system called a bird squawker. This bird squawker is set up on a timer system to send out predator bird sounds during the day, and at night, the system can be programmed to discourage nighttime crop feeders.

While eating blueberries, black bears roll around and damage the surrounding crop. They forage on the berries from daylight to dark.

Its leaves are also popular among caterpillars. It is a larval host to the pale tiger moth, the peppered moth,[7] the chain-dotted geometer, the saw-wing moth, the blueberry gray moth, the mousy angle moth,[8] Caloptilia vacciniella, Andromeda underwing, the shadowy arches, the two-spot dart,[9] the dingy cutworm moth, the speckled cutworm,[10] the decorated owlet, the pirate looper, Norman's dart, the gray swordgrass moth, the pink-edged sulphur butterfly, the pawpaw sphinx moth, and the blueberry leaftier moth.
Pollination

During the harvest year, blueberry growers rent honey bee hives to put in their fields for pollination. These hives are placed in the fields at a density range of anywhere from 1-8 hives per acre. The hives are placed in the fields at 10-20% bloom allowing the bees to have enough forage rather than going elsewhere to forage. Hives are left in blueberry fields for 2 weeks on average, allowing the bees to pollinate the variety of clones in the field, all of which bloom at different times during the two-week period.

Some growers also use bumble bees as well in hopes of maximum pollination. Bumblebees will fly in colder and wetter weather conditions than the honey bee will, and they also pollinate in a different way than the honey bee. Bumblebees can sonicate the flowers, which releases pollen from deep inside the poricidal anthers. This is known as buzz-pollination.

Blueberry growers also rely on many wild bees for pollination, including solitary bees like Andrena carlini and Colletes inaequalis.[11]
Pruning

Native Americans regularly burned away trees and shrubs in parts of eastern Maine to stimulate blueberry production. Modern farmers use various methods of burning or mowing to accomplish this.[12] There are several methods growers use to stimulate blueberry production on their land, such as burning the land or using a flail mower, bush hog, lawnmower, etc. to cut the plants off as close to the ground as possible without scalping the land. These procedures are used to promote the spreading of rhizomes under the soil. Some growers use a sickle bar mower in the fall after the crop has been harvested to mow the plants off, leaving roughly 1 to 2 inches of stem so the growers can then burn the remainder of the plants in the spring, using less fuel for the fire.
Products
Blueberry frozen yogurt

Roughly 90% of wild low bush blueberries are sold IQF (Individual Quick Frozen). Some berries are fresh-packed during harvest season and sold at farm markets and grocery stores. There is 100% pure wild blueberry juice on the market. The fruit can be used to make a wide variety of food products such as blueberry smoothies, blueberry sauce for waffles, blueberry grunt, blueberry lemon loaf, blueberry crisp, blueberry muffins, blueberry jam, blueberry martinis. It can be used for a topping on cereal or yogurt.

Nova Scotia wild blueberries are exported to the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other countries.
Nutrition

Wild blueberries are a good source of Vitamin C and dietary fiber. They contain no fat, sodium, or cholesterol and are only 80 calories per cup of berries. Recent studies have shown that the pigments in the berries' skin can provide health benefits to the consumer. These pigments are called anthocyanins which contain antioxidants. The antioxidants in the berry help to fight compounds called free radicals, which can cause cancer, heart disease, other diseases, and premature aging. In a USDA study, wild blueberries were found to have the highest level of antioxidants out of 40 fruits and vegetables.

Tannins, which are found in wild blueberries and cranberries, can prevent the bacteria that cause urinary tract infections from attaching to the bladder and urinary tract wall, thus allowing them to pass through the body without causing any harm.
Lowbush blueberry bush.jpg
State fruits
Giant blueberry person in Oxford, Nova Scotia

The lowbush blueberry is the state fruit of Maine, and the wild low bush blueberry is also the Nova Scotian Provincial Berry. Oxford, Nova Scotia is nicknamed "Wild Blueberry Capital of Canada."
References

"Vaccinium angustifolium". Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden.
"Vaccinium angustifolium". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – via The Plant List.
USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Vaccinium angustifolium". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 2013-08-04.
"Vaccinium angustifolium". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
Tirmenstein, D. A. (1991). "Vaccinium angustifolium". Fire Effects Information System (FEIS). US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service (USFS), Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory – via https://www.feis-crs.org/feis/. {{citation}}: External link in |via= (help)
Vander Kloet, Sam P. (2009). "Vaccinium angustifolium". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 8. New York and Oxford – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
"Species Biston betularia - Pepper & Salt Geometer - Hodges#6640". bugguide.net.
"Species Macaria argillacearia - Mousy Angle Moth - Hodges#6282". bugguide.net.
"Species Eueretagrotis perattentus - Two-spot Dart Moth - Hodges#11008". bugguide.net.
"Species Lacanobia subjuncta - Speckled Cutworm - Hodges#10299". bugguide.net.
Bushmann, Sara L.; Drummond, Francis A. (August 2015). "Abundance and Diversity of Wild Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) Found in Lowbush Blueberry Growing Regions of Downeast Maine". Environmental Entomology. 44 (4): 975–989. doi:10.1093/ee/nvv082. ISSN 1938-2936. PMID 26314043. S2CID 23922592.
"The University of Maine - Cooperative Extension: Maine Wild Blueberries - 229-Pruning Lowbush Blueberry Fields". Umaine.edu. 1914-06-30. Retrieved 2013-08-04.