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Species
Vaccinium corymbosum L.
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Highbush blueberry grows best and most commonly in moist or wet peat of moderate to high acidity – in and around marshes, swamps, and lakes, often with extended flooding, as well as on floodplains, sheltered slopes, and ravines. It also occurs in drier areas – dunes and barrier beaches, rocky hillsides, oak woods, and pine woods. It occurs as a dominant or co-dominant on Appalachian "heath balds." All of these are more or less open sites, and because of its shade intolerance, highbush blueberry can be eliminated as shading increases with overstory cover. Flowering (February-)March-June, sporadically in the southern portion of its range; fruiting (April-)May-October, about 62 days after flowering.
More info for the term: swamp
Highbush blueberry is not rhizomatous [25]. Little quantitative
information has been written about its sprouting ability; what has been
reported appears contradictory .
Vander Kloet [24] described highbush blueberry as crown forming shrubs
from a single bole that occasionally sucker "when disturbed or burnt."
Describing V. ashei [V. corymbosum] Camp [2] stated that the species
occurs where protected from fire and that "the ease by which various of
its forms are killed by fire may explain their apparent scarcity today
in certain areas where they might be expected." These authors indicate
that highbush blueberry is not a vigorous sprouter following fire.
However, a study by LeBlanc and Leopold [11] in a central New York
shrubby swamp thicket indicates that highbush blueberry is a good
sprouter following disturbance. Two years after stems were cut at
ground level, highbush blueberry sprouts averaged 6.9 inches (17.4 cm)
in height. LeBlanc and Leopold concluded that this population of
highbush blueberry was being maintained through sprout recruitment.
Thus, at least at this central New York site, highbush blueberry is a
vigorous sprouter following disturbance.
Fire may create shade-free environments favorable for highbush blueberry
growth. It seems probable that highbush blueberry seeds would be
dispersed onto burned sites in animal droppings.
Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status, such as, state noxious status and wetland indicator values.
United States
Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable
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| Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
| Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Vaccinium+x+marianum |
More info for the term: shrub
Highbush blueberry is a crown-forming deciduous shrub with two to five
stems arising from a single bole. It typically grows from 6.5 to 10
feet (2-3 m) in height. The fruit is a sweet, juicy, blue-black berry
about 0.3 to 0.4 inch (7 to 10 mm) in diameter, containing several small
seeds (nutlet) about 0.05 inch (1.2 mm) long [24,26].
More info on this topic.
More info for the terms: cover, peat, shrub, shrubs, succession, swamp
Because of its shade-intolerance, highbush blueberry is restricted to
open swamps and bogs, lakeshores and streamsides, open woods, and
high-elevation balds. Such habitats represent intermediate stages of
succession. Highbush blueberry can be eliminated from sites as
overstory cover and shading increase. In shrub bogs in northern
Illinois, highbush blueberry was largely replaced by the shading and
competitive effects of glossy-leaved buckthorn (Rhamnus framgula) [22].
Fire can be an important factor in creating shade-free environments for
highbush blueberry. A shrub-carr in New York codominated by mountain
holly and highbush blueberry was created by a severe swamp fire in 1892
which consumed over 3 feet (1 m) of peat. Although this shrub community
represents an intermediate stage of succession between wet meadow and
forested wetland, it is relatively stable. Size and age structure of
the two dominant shrubs in 1986 showed an inverse j-shaped distribution
indicative of self-maintaining populations; the dense shrub community
is only slowly progressing to black spruce (Picea mariana) and tamarack
(Larix laricina) [11].
These plant materials are readily available from commercial sources. Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone book under ”United States Government.” The Natural Resources Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading “Department of Agriculture.”
Rounded Global Status Rank: GNA - Not Applicable
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| Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
| Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Vaccinium+x+marianum |
Isotype for Vaccinium constablaei A. Gray
Catalog Number: US 1365352
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Original publication and alleged type specimen examined
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): A. Gray & J. Carey
Year Collected: 1841
Locality: Roan Mountain., North Carolina, United States, North America
- Isotype: Gray, A. 1842. Amer. J. Sci. Arts ser. 2. 42: 42.
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| Rights holder/Author | This image was obtained from the Smithsonian Institution. Unless otherwise noted, this image or its contents may be protected by international copyright laws. |
| Source | http://collections.mnh.si.edu/search/botany/?irn=2125497 |
More info for the term: shrubs
Highbush blueberry primarily reproduces from seed. Bees are the primary
pollinator. It typically produces abundant fruit annually. In Florida,
5-foot-tall (1.5 m) shrubs annually produc an average of 231,000 ovules,
of which about 11 percent (25,410) develop into seeds [26]. Mature,
commercially grown 8- to 10-year-old plants often yield 8 to 10 pints of
fruit per year [18].
Highbush blueberry seeds are dispersed in the droppings of frugivorous
birds and mammals. Long-distance dispersal is rare because most animals
which consume highbush blueberries are territorial. Even when fruit
ripening coincides with migration of songbirds, dispersal distances are
short because berry pulp rarely stays in the gut of cropless birds for
more than 20 minutes [26]. In the southern portion of its range,
highbush blueberry fruits are dispersed sporadically from late March
through June. These seeds have thick seed coats and require cold
stratification before germination can occur [21]. Germination typically
occurs in the winter following spring dispersal. In contrast, plants of
northern latitudes have thinner seed coats and germinate in the autumn
shortly after dispersal [27,29].
In Florida, highbush blueberry averaged 16 seeds per berry, of which 57
percent germinated when placed in an illuminated misting chamber [26].
Germination percent is reduced at least 15 percent after passing through
the digestive system of a bird or mammal [9].
Vegetative regeneration: Highbush blueberry rarely produces rhizomes
except in a few isolated populations in the Florida panhandle, on
isolated mountain peaks in North Carolina and Tennessee, and in eastern
Quebec where it introgresses with low sweet blueberry [25]. Layering
has been observed only in populations in Ontario and Quebec [26]. When
"disturbed or burnt" the plant occasionally produces new plants from
root sprouts 3 to 6 feet (1-2 m) away from the parent [26].