Vascular Plants of North Carolina

Vascular Plants of North Carolina

Account for Hillside Blueberry - Vaccinium pallidum Aiton

Section 6 » Order Ericales » Family Ericaceae

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Author	Aiton
Distribution	Occurs throughout the Mountains and Piedmont. In the Coastal Plain, primarily in the western and northern portions, but it does range sparingly to the southeastern counties. Almost certainly absent in a few counties close to the coast. This is a widespread blueberry from ME and WI south to central GA and eastern OK. It does not range south to TX or FL.
Abundance	Abundant in the Mountains and Piedmont; locally common in the northern and western Coastal Plain, but scarce over most of the southeastern half of the province. This is almost certainly the most numerous Vaccinium in the state.
Habitat	This is a characteristic and usually easily found species in dry/xeric forests, often on slopes, of many types, especially oak and pine forests. It is not common in Longleaf Pine sandhills; in that region it prefers rockier or more oak-dominated forests. It never occurs in wetlands and seldom occurs in full sun of outcrops and exposed places. See also Habitat Account for General Upland Heath Thickets
Phenology	Blooms in March and April, when the leaves are partly unfurled. It fruits in June and July.
Identification	This is the most common of the lowbush blueberries, growing in often large colonies to a height of only 1-2 feet tall. The deciduous leaves are widely elliptic and average 1-1.5 inches long; they can be slightly glaucous, and especially the underside of the leaf is quite pale. It is best identified by its green or yellow-green twigs; most other low growing and often colonial shrubs with similar leaves have brown or gray twigs. It has small, urn-shaped whitish flowers, often tinted pink or green; but these are often not needed for identification of this very familiar shrub.
Taxonomic Comments	Until fairly recently, this was named as V. vacillans (such as in RAB 1968).
Other Common Name(s)	Late Lowbush Blueberry, Early Lowbush Blueberry (!), Dryland Blueberry, Blue Ridge Blueberry
State Rank	S5
Global Rank	G5
State Status
US Status
USACE-agcp
USACE-emp

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