North Carolina Wildflowers, Shrubs, & Trees

Ericaceae > Vaccinium

Rare in sphagnum and peat bogs in the NC mountains and coastal plain, this is the species that's harvested up north for commercial cranberries.

Leaf detail

Also known as Farkleberry, this species is common in the eastern half of NC and uncommon to rare in the western half. Sparkleberry grows in a variety of habitats, usually in fairly dry and/or rocky soils.

Flowers appear in spring and produce small, black berries in the fall.

Leaves are nearly evergreen and somewhat thick and shiny.

Fresh leaves and twigs are finely pubescent.

Bark can peel and usually has reddish-orange patches.

Sparkleberry becomes a large shrub to small tree.

Common statewide in NC in dry woods, the fruits are enjoyed by a wide variety of wildlife (including me)!

Deerberry is one of several members of the blueberry family used as caterpillar host plants by Brown Elfins.

Probably Vaccinium cf. stamineum var. sericeum. Thanks to Zack Murrell, Derick Poindexter, and Gene Wofford for ID help with this one!

Common on dry soils in the eastern half of NC, this lowbush blueberry has densely pubescent twigs and green (not whitish) undersides to the leaves.

Fruits are shiny black in the late summer/early fall.

Common in the NC mountains in various habitats.

Large shrub with one to many trunks. Leaves & stems are smooth

Delicious, juicy berries.

Bark

Statewide in North Carolina and common, this blueberry grows in a variety of habitats from uplands to pocosins & swamps.

Flowers come out in early spring, before the leaves emerge.

Detail of older bark and small twigs. Young twigs are covered in downy hairs, hence one of the common names.

In North Carolina, this shrub grows uncommonly in various high elevation habitats from dry rocky ridges to bogs.

It's the only tall "blueberry bush" that produces red fruit! Berries are edible and delicious, although some find them a bit too acidic and tart.

Note that the remnant sepals indicated the flower was 4-parted, not 5-parted like many blueberries.

Twigs are very finely fuzzy (puberulent).

Bark is peely.

A northern species that gets as far south as the Virginia mountains but is not yet known from NC, Northern Lowbush Blueberry grows in acidic soils in wooded and/or rocky areas.

These incredible phenomena in Maine are large areas of mostly ankle-high blueberry bushes.

Maine Blueberry barrens.

This blueberry was growing at the very top of the rocky bald at Wine Spring Bald.