Checklist » Ericaceae » Vaccinium oxycoccos
Last updated 1/20/2024 by David Giblin.
Vaccinium oxycoccos L.[FNA8, HC, HC2]
small cranberry

Publication: Sp. Pl. 1: 351. 1753.

Origin: Native

selected vouchers: WTU

Notes: FNA8: "Vaccinium oxycoccos is interruptedly circumboreal (absent from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, including Baffin Island) extending southward in North America to California in the Cascade Range and to West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains.

In Europe, some chromosome races of Vaccinium oxycoccos have been given specific rank (S. P. Vander Kloet 1983) at one time or another; unfortunately, hexaploids cannot be differentiated consistently from diploids or tetraploids using morphological features such as leaf indumentum or bract size.

On most vines, especially north of 50° north latitude, the leafy portion of the fertile shoot fails to develop, giving the illusion that Vaccinium oxycoccos has an inflorescence comprising a short rachis bearing flowers on a slender pedicel."

References:

» Mahy, G. et al. 2000. Allozyme evidence for genetic autopolyploidy and high genetic diversity in the tetraploid cranberry, Vaccinium oxycoccos (Ericaceae). Amer. J. Bot. 87: 1882-1889.
Synonyms & Misapplied Names:
Oxycoccus hagerupii Á. Löve & D. Löve
Oxycoccus intermedius (A. Gray) Rydb.
Oxycoccus microcarpus Turczaninov ex Rupr.
Oxycoccus oxycoccos (L.) Adolphi
Oxycoccus oxycoccos (L.) MacMill.
Vaccinium microcarpum (Turczaninov ex Rupr.) Schmalhausen
Vaccinium oxycoccos L. ssp. microphyllum (Lange) Feilberg
Vaccinium oxycoccos L. var. intermedium A. Gray
Vaccinium oxycoccos L. var. microphyllum (Lange) J. Rouss. & Raymond
Vaccinium oxycoccos L. var. ovalifolium Michx.