Vaccinium
Encyclopedia
Vaccinium is a genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s or dwarf shrubs in the plant Family Ericaceae
Ericaceae
The Ericaceae, commonly known as the heath or heather family, is a group of mostly calcifuge flowering plants. The family is large, with roughly 4000 species spread across 126 genera, making it the 14th most speciose family of flowering plants...

. The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry
Cranberry
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...

, blueberry
Blueberry
Blueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries and are perennial...

, bilberry
Bilberry
Bilberry is any of several species of low-growing shrubs in the genus Vaccinium , bearing edible berries. The species most often referred to is Vaccinium myrtillus L., but there are several other closely related species....

 or whortleberry, lingonberry or cowberry, and huckleberry. Like many other ericaceous plants, they are generally restricted to acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...

ic soils.

Distribution

The genus contains about 450 species, which are found mostly in the cooler areas of the Northern Hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...

, although there are tropical species from areas as widely separated as Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 and Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

.

Etymology

The name vaccinium was used in classical Latin
Classical Latin
Classical Latin in simplest terms is the socio-linguistic register of the Latin language regarded by the enfranchised and empowered populations of the late Roman republic and the Roman empire as good Latin. Most writers during this time made use of it...

 for a type of berry (probably the bilberry
Bilberry
Bilberry is any of several species of low-growing shrubs in the genus Vaccinium , bearing edible berries. The species most often referred to is Vaccinium myrtillus L., but there are several other closely related species....

 V. myrtillus), but its ultimate derivation is obscure; it is not the same word as vaccinum "of or pertaining to cows".

Characteristics

Plants of this group typically require acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...

ic soils, and as wild plants they live in habitats such as heath
Heath (habitat)
A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...

, bog
Bog
A bog, quagmire or mire is a wetland that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses or, in Arctic climates, lichens....

 and acidic woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

 (for example, blueberries under oaks or pines). 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 (3.3 to 6.6 ft) tall. The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 develops from an inferior ovary, and is a berry
Berry
The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....

; 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.

False berries

The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 of plants in this group develops from an inferior ovary, and is therefore known, botanically, as a false berry. In botany, true berries and fruit develop from the superior ovaries of a flower.

This "false berry" condition can actually be seen upon examining the fruit; the tip of a blueberryhttp://www.buzzle.com/articles/blueberries-health-benefits.html or cranberryhttp://fruit-crops.com/cranberi/ contains a little, spiked ring that is the original flower. With "true" fruit, the flower would be lost as the ovaries expanded from within, but in the case of epigynoushttp://fruit-crops.com/bluberi/ "berries" the fruit comes from under the ovary, and the flower is left on the tip.

Food uses

Vaccinium species are used as food plants by the larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of a number of Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 (butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 and moth
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

) species – see list of Lepidoptera that feed on Vaccinium.

Taxonomy

The taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...

 is complex, and still under investigation. A number of the Asian species are more closely related to Agapetes
Agapetes
Agapetes is a semi-climbing shrub genus native to the Himalayas, grown as an ornamental for its attractive pendulous benches of red tubular flowers blooming over a long period. It is mostly grown in climates from cool temperate to sub-tropical...

than to other Vaccinium species. A second group includes most of Orthaea and Notopora, at least some of Gaylussacia
Gaylussacia
Gaylussacia is a genus of about fifty species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to the Americas, where they occur in eastern North America and in South America in the Andes and the mountains of southeastern Brazil...

(huckleberry), and a number of species from Vaccinium, such as Vaccinium crassifolium
Vaccinium crassifolium
Vaccinium crassifolium, the Creeping blueberry, is a species of Vaccinium native to the four Southeastern U.S. states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia...

. Other parts of Vaccinium form other groups, sometimes together with species of other genera.

Subgenera

A classification which predates molecular phylogeny
Molecular phylogeny
Molecular phylogenetics is the analysis of hereditary molecular differences, mainly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. The result of a molecular phylogenetic analysis is expressed in a phylogenetic tree...

 divides Vaccinium into subgenera, and several sections:
Subgenus Oxycoccus: The cranberries
Cranberry
Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...

, with slender, trailing, wiry non-woody shoots and strongly reflexed flower petals. Some botanists treat Oxycoccus as a distinct genus.
  • Sect. Oxycoccus
    • Vaccinium macrocarpon
      Cranberry
      Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...

      – American Cranberry
    • Vaccinium microcarpum
      Cranberry
      Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...

      – Small Cranberry
    • Vaccinium oxycoccos
      Cranberry
      Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus Oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium. In some methods of classification, Oxycoccus is regarded as a genus in its own right...

      – Common Cranberry
  • Sect. Oxycoccoides
    • Vaccinium erythrocarpum
      Southern Mountain Cranberry
      Southern Mountain Cranberry, Vaccinium erythrocarpum, — also commonly known as bearberry, arando, and dingleberry, is a type of cranberry native to the southeastern United States. It is a deciduous shrub....

      – Southern Mountain Cranberry

Subgenus Vaccinium: All the other species, with thicker, upright woody shoots and bell-shaped flowers.
  • Sect. Batodendron
    • Vaccinium arboreum
      Vaccinium arboreum
      Vaccinium arboreum is a species of Vaccinium native to the southeastern United States, from southern Virginia west to southeastern Nebraska, south to Florida and eastern Texas, and north to Illinois....

      - Sparkleberry (images)
    • 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
  • 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 – typical blueberries
    Blueberry
    Blueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries and are perennial...

    • Vaccinium angustifolium – Lowbush Blueberry
    • Vaccinium boreale – Northern Blueberry
    • Vaccinium caesariense
      Vaccinium caesariense
      Vaccinium caesariense, New Jersey Blueberry, is native to the Eastern United States. It is a species in the genus Vaccinium, which includes blueberries, cranberries, huckleberry, and bilberries, all flowering plants or angiosperms.-Range:...

      – New Jersey Blueberry
    • Vaccinium caespitosum – Dwarf Blueberry (Dwarf Bilberry)
    • Vaccinium corymbosum – Highbush Blueberry
    • Vaccinium darrowii
      Vaccinium darrowii
      Vaccinium darrowii, Darrow's Blueberry, Evergreen Blueberry, Scrub Blueberry, or Southern Highbush Blueberry, is a species of Vaccinium in the blueberry group .-Distribution:...

      – Evergreen Blueberry
    • Vaccinium elliottii
      Vaccinium elliottii
      Vaccinum elliottii is a species of Vaccinium in the blueberry group . It is native to the Southeastern United States, from southeastern Virginia south to Florida, and west to Arkansas and Texas.-Growth:Vaccinium elliottii is a deciduous shrub 2-4 m tall, with small, simple ovoid-acute leaves...

      – Elliott's Blueberry
    • Vaccinium formosum
    • Vaccinium fuscatum – Black Highbush Blueberry; syn. V. atrococcum
    • Vaccinium hirsutum
    • Vaccinium koreanum
    • Vaccinium myrsinites – Evergreen Blueberry
    • Vaccinium myrtilloides – Canadian Blueberry
    • Vaccinium pallidum Ait. – Dryland Blueberry (images); syn. V. vacillans Torr.
    • 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 (including sect. Macropelma) – bilberries
    Bilberry
    Bilberry is any of several species of low-growing shrubs in the genus Vaccinium , bearing edible berries. The species most often referred to is Vaccinium myrtillus L., but there are several other closely related species....

     and relatives
    • Vaccinium calycinum Sm.
      James Edward Smith
      Sir James Edward Smith was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society.Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a precocious interest in the natural world...

      Ōhelo kau laʻau (Hawaii
      Hawaii
      Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

      )
    • Vaccinium cereum (L.f.) Forst.f. – East Polynesian Blueberry, Pacific Blueberry
    • Vaccinium cespitosum
      Vaccinium cespitosum
      Vaccinium cespitosum, , the dwarf bilberry, is a species of flowering shrub in the genus Vaccinium, which includes blueberries, huckleberries, and cranberries.-Range:...

      – Dwarf Bilberry
    • Vaccinium deliciosum
      Vaccinium deliciosum
      Vaccinium deliciosum is a species of bilberry known by the common names Cascade bilberry, Cascade blueberry, and blueleaf huckleberry. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Idaho to northern California, where it grows at elevations of 600 to 2000 meters in subalpine and...

      – Cascade Bilberry, Cascade Blueberry, Blueleaf Huckleberry
    • Vaccinium dentatum Sm.
      James Edward Smith
      Sir James Edward Smith was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society.Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a precocious interest in the natural world...

      Ōhelo (Hawaii)
    • Vaccinium membranaceum
      Vaccinium membranaceum
      - Geographic Distribution :Vaccinium membranaceum is a species within the group of Vaccinium commonly referred to as huckleberry. This particular species is known by the common names thinleaf huckleberry, tall huckleberry, big huckleberry, mountain huckleberry, square-twig blueberry, and as...

      – Square-twig Blueberry, Thinleaf Huckleberry, Tall Huckleberry, Big Huckleberry, Mountain Huckleberry, "black huckleberry"
    • Vaccinium myrtillus
      Vaccinium myrtillus
      Vaccinium myrtillus is an almost Holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit, usually simply referred to as "bilberry" or "whortleberry". It is more precidely called Common Bilberry or Blue Whortleberry, to distinguish it from its Vaccinium relatives...

      – Common Bilberry, Blue Whortleberry, Blaeberry, Fraughan, Hurtleberry
    • Vaccinium ovalifolium
      Vaccinium ovalifolium
      Vaccinium ovalifolium is a plant found in coastal forests throughout southern Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.-Growth:...

      – Alaska Blueberry, Early Blueberry, Oval-leaf Blueberry
    • Vaccinium parvifolium
      Vaccinium parvifolium
      Red Huckleberry is a species of Vaccinium native to the western North America, where it is common in forests from southeastern Alaska and British Columbia south through western Washington and Oregon to central California. In the Oregon Coast Range, it is the most common Vaccinium...

      – Red Huckleberry
    • Vaccinium praestansKrasnika
    • Vaccinium reticulatum
      Vaccinium reticulatum
      Vaccinium reticulatum, known as Ōhelo ai in Hawaiian, is a species of flowering plant in the heather family, Ericaceae, that is endemic to Hawaii. It grows at altitudes of on lava flows and freshly disturbed volcanic ash on Maui and Hawaii, and less commonly on Kauai, Oahu, and Molokai...

      Ōhelo ʻai (Hawaii)
    • Vaccinium scoparium
      Vaccinium scoparium
      Vaccinium scoparium is a species of huckleberry known by the common names grouse whortleberry, grouseberry, and littleleaf huckleberry. It is native to western North America from British Columbia and Alberta to far northern California to Colorado and New Mexico...

      – Grouse Whortleberry, Grouseberry, Littleleaf Huckleberry
  • Sect. Neurodesia
    • Vaccinium crenatum
  • Sect. Oarianthe
    • Vaccinium ambyandrum
    • Vaccinium cyclopense
  • Sect. Oreades
    • Vaccinium poasanum
  • Sect. Pachyanthum
    • Vaccinium fissiflorum
  • Sect. Polycodium
    • Vaccinium stamineum
      Vaccinium stamineum
      Vaccinium stamineum, commonly known as deerberry, squaw huckleberry or gooseberry, is a flowering shrub in the heath family. The plant is native to eastern North America from Ontario in the north, south to Florida and west to Texas...

      L.
      Carolus Linnaeus
      Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...

      - Deerberry; syn. V. caesium (Eastern North America) (images)
  • Sect. Pyxothamnus
    • Vaccinium consanguineum
    • Vaccinium floribundum
    • Vaccinium ovatum Pursh
      Frederick Traugott Pursh
      Frederick Traugott Pursh was a German-American botanist.Born in Grossenhain, Saxony, to the name Friedrich Traugott Pursh, he was educated at Dresden Botanical Gardens, and emigrated to the United States in 1799...

      - California Huckleberry (or Evergreen Huckleberry) (Coastal Western North America)
  • Sect. Vaccinium
    • Vaccinium uliginosum
      Vaccinium uliginosum
      Vaccinium uliginosum is a flowering plant in the genus Vaccinium.-Distribution:Vaccinium uliginosum is native to cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, at low altitudes in the Arctic, and at high altitudes south to the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Caucasus in Europe, the mountains of...

      L.
      Carolus Linnaeus
      Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...

      - Northern (or Bog) Bilberry (or Blueberry); syn. V. occidentale (Northern North America and Eurasia)
  • Sect. Vitis-idaea
    • Vaccinium vitis-idaea
      Vaccinium vitis-idaea
      Vaccinium vitis-idaea is a short evergreen shrub in the heath family that bears edible sour fruit, native to boreal forest and Arctic tundra throughout the Northern Hemisphere from Eurasia to North America. In the past it was seldom cultivated, but fruit was commonly collected in the wild. ...

      L.
      Carolus Linnaeus
      Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...

      - Partridgeberry, Cowberry, Redberry, Red Whortleberry, or Lingonberry (northern North America and Eurasia)

Production


Production tonnes. Figures 2003-2004
FAOSTAT data (FAO
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...

)
United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

280,503 80 % 270,000 78 %
Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

52,651 15 % 53,400 16 %
Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

8,000 2 % 10,000 3 %
Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

8,000 2 % 8,000 2 %
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

2,000 1 % 1,500 0 %
Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

1,000 0 % 1,000 0 %
Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

50 0 % 50 0 %
Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

50 0 % 50 0 %
Total 352 254 100 % 344 000 100 %

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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