''Vaccinium formosum,'' with common names highbush blueberry, southern blueberry, southern highbush blueberry, and swamp highbush blueberry, is a species of

blueberry Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' with the genus ''Vaccinium''. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) ...

native to the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

Description

''Vaccinium formosum'' is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub that grows to approximately tall. The plant has green stems that turn into woody growth as the stems age. The leaves are ovaloid, green, and about long. The flowers are whitish-pink and bell-shaped. The fruit is a dark blue berry with a

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), ...

bloom on one end.

Distribution and habitat

''Vaccinium formosum'' is native to the Southeastern United States. It has been found in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Delaware, and New York. It grows in a variety of habitats including bogs,

pine barrens Pine barrens, pine plains, sand plains, or pineland areas occur throughout the U.S. from Florida to Maine (see Atlantic coastal pine barrens) as well as the Midwest, West, and Canada and parts of Eurasia. Perhaps the most well known pine-barre ...

, mires, ravines and mountain summits.

Cultivation

The plant's primary habitats are in

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

es,

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

s, and

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

y/sandy soils. It prefers low pH,

acidic soils Soil pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity (alkalinity) of a soil. Soil pH is a key characteristic that can be used to make informative analysis both qualitative and quantitatively regarding soil characteristics. pH is defined as the nega ...

and will not fruit or grow well in basic conditions. The ideal conditions for this plant are in full sun; it can handle partial-sun though it may fruit less. The harvest season of the edible fruit of the ''Vaccinium formosum'' is primarily late spring/summer.

Uses

The berries are edible in both raw and cooked forms.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17251902 formosum Blueberries Flora of the Southeastern United States Fruits originating in North America Flora without expected TNC conservation status

Description

Distribution and habitat

Cultivation

Uses

Further reading

References