Vaccinium uliginosum : Bog Blueberry

Scientific Name:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division:

• Tracheophyta (vascular)
• Spermatophyta (seed bearing)
Angiospermae (enclosed seed)

Class: Dicoteldonae (two seed-leaves)

Family: Ericaceae (Heath Family)

Genera: Vaccinium (Huckleberry) (The ancient Latin name for plants of this genus)

Species: uliginosum (Latin; of the marshes)

English Name(s):

Bog Blueberry, Bog/Alpine/Arctic Blueberry/Bilberry/Whortleberry

First Nation Names:

jak zhii (Gwichya), jak naalyuu (Teel'it)

Structure:

• Low, much branched depressed or erect shrub. 20-60 cm high.
• Twigs finely puberulent (minutely hairy).

Leaves:

• Simple (not compound or lobed).
• Dull green above, glaucous (gray-waxy) beneath.
• Small, 4-25mm long by 2-15mm wide.

Reproductive Parts:

• Flowers perfect (bisexual) and regular (symetrical).
• Calyx (sepals) deeply lobed, about 1 mm long, persisting on the fruit.
• Corolla (petals) pink to white, united, bell-shaped, 3-4 mm long.
• Flowers 1 to several from scaly buds.

Seed:

• Fruit a several seeded berry.
• Berries 5-8 mm in diameter, blue-blackish, with a thin grayish waxy coating.

Not to Be Confused With:

Physiology:

Life Cycle:

• Perennial.

Seasonal Cycle:

• Leaves deciduous (falling off) and turn a bright and then deep red in autumn.

Animal Uses:

• The flowers are specifically adapted to be pollenated by bumblebees.
• Many mammals and birds eat the berries.

Habitat:

• Alpine slopes, muskegs, bogs, woodlands, and heath.
• Common in acid soils.

Modern:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

Food:

Traditional Gwich'in:

Folklore:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

Food:

Traditional Other:

Folklore:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

Food: