Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Vaccinium membranaceum
square-twig blueberry, tall huckleberry, thin-leaved huckleberry
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Widely distributed on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the Rocky Mountains and Great Lakes region.

Habitat: Common in dry to moist coniferous forests and open areas, moderate to mid-elevations in the mountains.

Flowers: May-July

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bumblebees, bees

Description:
General:

Deciduous spreading shrub 0.5-2 m. tall, the young twigs slightly angled, yellow-green, glabrous, the old bark grayish and shredding.

Leaves:

Leaves alternate, thin, ovate to elliptic-obovate, tapered and pointed at the tip and rounded-acute at the base, 2-5 cm. long, finely serrulate nearly full length, sparsely glandular and paler on the lower surfaces.

Flowers:

Flowers single in the axils on pedicels 5-10 mm. long, pale yellowish-pink, about 6 mm. long; calyx obscurely 5-lobed; corolla entire, broadly urn-shaped, longer than broad; anthers with dorsal awns and apical, pore-bearing tubes; ovary inferior.

Fruits:

Fruit a berry, blackish-purple or dark purplish-reddish, not glaucous, 7-9 mm. broad, broader than high.

Accepted Name:
Vaccinium membranaceum Douglas ex Torr.
Publication: U.S. Expl. Exped. 17: 377. 1874.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
Vaccinium coccineum Piper
Vaccinium globulare Rydb. [HC]
Vaccinium macrophyllum Piper
Vaccinium membranaceum Douglas ex Torr. var. rigidum (Hook.) Fernald
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Vaccinium membranaceum in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database

WA Flora Checklist: Vaccinium membranaceum checklist entry

OregonFlora: Vaccinium membranaceum information

E-Flora BC: Vaccinium membranaceum atlas page

CalPhotos: Vaccinium membranaceum photos

57 photographs:
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