Vaccinium uliginosum L. subsp. microphyllum (Lange) Tolm.
Bilberry, or Whortleberry (Porsild (1950).
Ericaceae, bilberry family.
Ark. Bot.. ser. 2, 7, 1: 100. 1968.
Vaccinium. uliginosum L. taxon (*) microphyllum Lange, Medd.
Grønl. 3: 91. 1880.
Vaccinium. gaultherioides Bigelow, New
Engl. J. Medic. Surg. 5: 335. 1816
Type: Described from Greenland.
Vaccinium occidentale Gray
Vaccinium uliginosum subsp.
alpinum (Bigelow) Hultén
Vaccinium uliginosum subsp.
gaultheroides (Bigelow) S.B. Young
Vaccinium uliginosum subsp.
microphyllum Lange
Vaccinium uliginosum subsp.
occidentale (Gray) Hultén
Vaccinium uliginosum subsp.
pedris (Harshberger) S.B. Young
Vaccinium uliginosum var.
occidentale (Gray) Hara
Vaccinium uliginosum var.
salicium (Cham.) Hultén
Vegetative morphology. Plants shrubs; dwarf shrubs; 5–15(–20) cm high (stems much longer but prostrate); low, semi-prostrate, or erect, with freely branching stems that form mats. Rooting along the stems. Aerial stems prostrate; glabrous, or sparsely hairy (glabrescent); stem hairs spreading. Branches epidermis flaky (in current season's growth). Leaves distributed along the stems (towards the ends of the branches); alternate; existing for a single season or less, or marcescent (sometimes). Stipules absent (prominent leaf bud scales present). Petioles present; 0.2–1 mm long; glabrous. Leaf blade bases attenuate. Blades 4–10 mm long; 3–8 mm wide. Blades spreading; herbaceous, or leathery; obovate; flat; veins reticulate. Blades adaxial surface without sessile glands; glabrous. Blades abaxial surface without sessile glands (a contrast with Vaccinium vitis-idaea); glabrous. Blade margins entire (slightly rolled under forming a narrow rim around the blade); glabrous. Leaf apices acute, or rounded, or retuse.
Reproductive morphology. Flowering stems absent. Flowers solitary, or in inflorescences. Inflorescence fasciculate (or 2–3 flowers on pedicels 1–3 mm long); axillary. Pedicels absent. Flowers small, less than 5 mm in diameter or length. Floral bracts light rose, or brown; obovate; 1.5–2.5 mm long; 0.5–1 mm wide; glabrous; apex lacerate, or rounded. Perianth present. Calyx sepals 5 (valvate); fused (at the base); 1–1.5 mm long. Calyx red (or deep pink); without sessile glands; glabrous. Petals fused; 5; pink; 4–5 mm long. Corolla campanulate; 5-lobed. Stamens 10. Anthers yellow; 1.4–1.6 mm long (with stout cylinders that open by apical pores; the axis between the cylinders separates in the upper half of the anther and peels back into two prominent filaments, or horns that help to hold the anthers away from the petals). Nectaries present. Gynoecia inferior. Carpels syncarpous; 5. Ovaries subglobose; glabrous. Styles 1. Placentation axile. Ovules numerous. Fruit sessile. Fruit with calyx persisting; fleshy; a berry; spherical; not distinctly flattened; indehiscent. Fruit 5–10 mm long; 5–10 mm wide; blue (at maturity); glabrous; surface appearing veinless. Seeds numerous; 1.4–1.6 mm long; black (reddish).
Chromosome information. 2n = 48. Hagerup (1933 Greenland); Flovik (1940 Svalbard); Löve (1950, 1954); Hara (1956); Löve and Löve (1956b Iceland, 1964, 1965, 1966b north eastern USA, 1982a central Canada); Jørgensen et al. (1958 Greenland); Löve and Boscaiu (1966 southe eastern Europe); Zhukova (1966 north eastern Asia); Hedberg (1967 northern Canada); Johnson and Packer (1968 northwestern Alaska ); Packer and McPherson (1974 northern Alaska); Uhrikova et al. (1980 central Europe); Majovsky and Uhrikova (1982 central Europe); Zhukova et al. (1977a north eastern Asia); Perhaps also: Krogulevich (1976 northern Siberia Putorana); Chinnappa and Chmielewski (1987 western North America); and Zhukova and Petrovsky 1987a north eastern Asia). Ploidy levels recorded 4x.
Distribution. Northern hemisphere distribution: Greenland, Canada, United States, Eurasia. Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories Islands, Continental Northwest Territories, Nunavut Islands, Continental Nunavut, Northern Québec. Arctic. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago widespread. Arctic Islands: Baffin, Devon, Ellesmere, Axel Heiberg, Banks, Victoria, Southampton (Salisbury and Boothia Peninsula). Well drained slope (CAN 312093), Dryas and Salix arctica wet slope (CAN 295914); common in turfy tundra, local on gabbro outcrop in rolling calcareous till plain (CAN 485190); moderately well drained till (CAN 485296); base of seepage slope on mossy hummock (CAN 484960); scree slope with Cassiope (CAN 267747); dry mesic slope on sandy ground and thin tuft with Empetrum (CAN 549948); steep, moist non-calcareous south facing slope (CAN 3668158); sandstone scree (CAN 556103);, trap rock cliffs and steep talus slope (CAN 128057); exposed hillocky-lichen tundra (CAN 258816).
Indigenous knowledge. Inuit name kigutangirnait, is often
shortened to naqutit (blueberries). Kigutangirnaqutit, is the word
for a blueberry bush. An unripened blueberry is called a nanuq "a polar
bear". Kigutangirnait means "that which causes the teeth to be
removed", because they leave black spots on the teeth.
The berries
were recommended for a person who had diarrhea. If you eat a lot of berries, the
stool hardens. August is the best month to pick berries. (Ootoova et al., 2001).
The leaves were used to make tea. They were added to bearberries when there
were not enough of them for tea. (Ootoova 2001).
The branches were used to
remove puja, gummy blubber, and other stains that ordinary soap could not
remove.
Andre and Fehr (2000) reported that Gwich'in people enjoy eating the
berries with sugar in jams, pies, muffins and it'suh (a desert made from
pounded dry fish - for recipe see Empetrum). The stems can be boiled and
make a tea for cold symptoms.
Porsild (1950) noted that although Europeans
prefer this fruit to that of the crowberr, the bilberry is not much esteemed by
Eskimo who believe it is liable to cause dental decay.
Notes. Vaccinium uliginosum is a circumpolar and circumboreal
complex of tetra-, hexa-, octo- and dodecaploids. Recent genetic investigations
(Brochmann, in print) document that there are 3–4 major groups of
genotypes. These groups correspond to ploidy levels and named taxa and are also
morphologically different in a few characters. The arctic plants and the
majority of those of temperate high mountains constitute one major tetraploid
group to which the name 'microphyllum' belongs, and probably also the
name 'gaultherioides'. Another major group is octoploid and broadly
amphi-Atlantic boreal (Eastern North America, Southern Greenland, Europe,
perhaps Westernorthern Siberia) and to this group belongs the name
'uliginosum' s.str. Two groups of genotypes seem to occur in the Pacific
areas. One is broadly Pacific, hexa- and dodecaploid, and several names might
have relevance for it, especially 'occidentalis' and 'pedris'.
This seems to be the dominant entity in non-arctic Western Canada and Alaska.
Another entity is more narrowly amphi-Beringian and goes by the name
'vulcanorum'. Its ploidy level is not known.
This is mainly a boreal
entity. From genetic evidence (Brochmann 2001, personal communication) it occurs
at least in boreal-alpine and southern arctic Fennoscandia, S Greenland and NE
North America (U.S.A., Canada). Plants morphologically similar to
'microphyllum' replace subsp. uliginosum in the Fennoscandian
mountains but these have been counted as tetraploid (2n = 48, Borgen and Elven
1983, Nord. J. Bot. 3: 301–306). They most probably represent the plants
described as subsp. alpinum (Bigelow) Hultén and mapped as such in
the Fennoscandian mountains by Hultén (1968).
Illustrations. • Habitat. Semi-prostrate shrubs of blueberry, much less than 10 cm tall. Leaves have turned red in the fall and blueberries are abundant on the left hand side of the image. Scale bar in cm. Nunavut, Baffin Island, at Iqaluit. Aiken 97–047. CAN. • Plants in Flower. Vivid pink flowers on stems close to the ground. Nunavut, Baffin Island, Iqaluit. 3 July, 2002. Aiken and Mallory. 02–004a. CAN. • Habitat. Semi-prostrate shrubs of blueberry, much less than 10 cm tall. Leaves have turned red in the fall and blueberries are abundant on the left hand side of the image. Scale bar in cm. Nunavut, Baffin Island, at Iqaluit. Aiken 97–047. CAN. • Habitat. Early season, small, bluish green leaves of bilberry, pale grey-blue young berries near the maker and mature blue berries. Nunavut, Baffin Island, at Iqaluit Aiken 97–047.Scale bar in cm. CAN. The much larger leaves are those of Salix reticulata. • Habitat. Patch of red are from bilberry plants on which the leaves have turned red in the fall. Nunavut, Baffin Island, Iqaluit, Aiken 97–048. CAN. • Close-up of Flowers. Clusters of 2–3 flowers that have scale leaves on the base of the pedicels, small free sepals and fused petals. Aiken and Mallory, 02–004a. CAN. • Looking into the Flower. Flower with five fused petals, anthers that have filaments attaching to the petals. Note that the anthers are long and tube-like, opening by pores at the tops and with brown horns on the base. AIken and Mallory, 02–004d. CAN. • Plant habit. Prostrate plants with grey, much branching stems and small blue-green deciduous leaves that are not marcescent. The reddish leaves occur at the growing tips of the stems. Nunavut, Baffin Island, Iqaluit, 22 July 1982, J.M.Gillett 18994. CAN. • Close-up of leaves. Current season's leaf blades are 4–10 mm long; 3–8 mm wide, blue green with reticulate venation, Greyish and pale brown leaves are from a previous season and to a limited extent marcescent. They are mainly associated with stems that have red tips from diseased leaves. Nunavut, Baffin Island, Iqaluit, 22 July 1982, J.M. Gillett 18994. CAN. • Close-up of fruit. Vivid blue berry, 10–15 mm round formed from an inferior ovary with 5 carpels, the tops of which appear as teeth on the top of the berry. The style is still attached and shows the small capitate stigma. Note the glabrous leaves with reticulate venation. Nunavut, Baffin Island, at Iqaluit. Aiken 97–047. CAN. • Arctic Island Distribution.
Cite this publication as: ‘S.G. Aiken, M.J. Dallwitz, L.L. Consaul, C.L. McJannet, L.J. Gillespie, R.L. Boles, G.W. Argus, J.M. Gillett, P.J. Scott, R. Elven, M.C. LeBlanc, A.K. Brysting and H. Solstad. 1999 onwards. Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 29th April 2003. http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/’. Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000) should also be cited (see References).
