Vaccinium ovalifolium – oval-leaved blueberry
Common Name
oval-leaved blueberry
Alternate Common Names
- oval-leaf blueberry
Family
Ericaceae
Scientific Name
Vaccinium ovalifolium
Soil Moisture Regime (SMR)
- Medium (M)
- Wet (W)
Soil Nutrient Regime (SNR)
- Poor (P)
Video link
Hitchcock, C. Leo, and Arthur Cronquist. Flora of the Pacific Northwest: An Illustrated Manual © 1973. Reprinted with permission of the University of Washington Press.
General / Habitat
- Shrub
- Common to moist coniferous forests, openings, and especially soils rich in decaying wood
- Low to subalpine elevations.
Key Identifying Characteristics
- Form: Erect and spreading, up to 2 m tall
- Leaves: Alternate, deciduous, oval, up to 4 cm long, typically lacking teeth
- Flowers: Pinkish, urn-shaped and typically longer than broad, generally appear before or with emergence of leaves
- Fruit: Blue-black berries with a whitish bloom. More flavourful than supermarket blueberries.
Lookalikes
- Vaccinium alaskaense (Alaskan blueberry) looks very similar. Most reliable way to distinguish is to take a leaf sample, fold in half along the midvein, and use hand lens to look for scattered hairs on underside of midvein. If it has midvein hairs, it is alaskaense.
- Other ways: berries of Alaska blueberry emerge after the leaves, oval-leaved blueberry is more highly
branched and has finer reddish twigs, oval-leaved blueberry has flowers longer than they
are wide (while Alaska is wider than long), Alaska has fruit stalks enlarged just below berry (while oval is not enlarged)
- Other ways: berries of Alaska blueberry emerge after the leaves, oval-leaved blueberry is more highly
- Vaccinium parvifolium(red huckleberry) can also look similar, but has smaller leaves and greener twigs with a less spreading branching pattern, plus bright red berries
Interesting Characteristics
- Highly regarded by all coastal aboriginal peoples as a delicious fruit
Co-occurring Species
- Often occurs with Vaccinium alaskaense and Vacciniun parvifolium
External References
Sources
Douglas, G.W. et al (Editors). 1998-2002. Illustrated Flora of British Columbia, Volumes 1 to 8. B.C. Min. Environ., Lands and Parks, and B.C. Min. For., Victoria, B.C.
Pojar, J. and A. MacKinnon. 2014. Plants of Coastal British Columbia Including Washington, Oregon & Alaska. B.C. Ministry of Forestry and Lone Pine Publishing. Vancouver, B.C.