Plant Guide

of iron of the temperate fruits. The fruits provide

HIGHBUSH important summer and early fall food for numerous
species of game birds, songbirds, and mammals.
BLUEBERRY
Status
Vaccinium corymbosum L. Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State
Plant Symbol = VACO Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s
current status, such as, state noxious status and
Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data wetland indicator values.
Center & the Biota of North America Program
Description
General: Heath family (Ericaceae). Native shrubs 2-
3(-4) meters tall, crown-forming, forming dense
colonies, the twigs warty and yellow-green, glabrous.
Leaves deciduous, alternate, simple, narrow to
broadly elliptic or ovate, 3.8-8.2 cm long, pubescent
at least on the veins beneath, slightly waxy above, the
edges smooth and ciliate to toothed. Flowers 8-10 in
a cluster, 6-12 mm long, urn-shaped, white, with 5
petals. Fruits berries are 5-12 mm wide, blue to blue-
black and many-seeded. The common name refers to
Botany Dept., NMNH, Smithsonian Institution the relatively tall stature of these plants.
@ PLANTS
Variation within the species: The highbush blueberry
Alternate Names complex is highly variable and includes diploids,
Northern highbush blueberry, southeastern highbush tetraploids, hexaploids, and various hybrid
blueberry, Maryland highbush blueberry, black combinations. Recent studies (Vander Kloet in 1980
highbush blueberry, American blueberry, New Jersey and 1988) have recommended treating the complex
blueberry, rabbiteye blueberry, swamp blueberry, tall very broadly, using only the single name V.
huckleberry, mayberry, whortleberry corymbosum, but not all authors have accepted that
(for example, see Uttall 1986, 1987). As treated in
Uses the PLANTS database, the complex includes a group
Highbush blueberry is the major blueberry of of interrelated species that have generally been
commerce. It is extensively cultivated in New recognized as “highbush” blueberries – these
Jersey, Michigan, North Carolina, and Washington species* (or hybrids), with synonyms, are listed
and to a lesser extent in Georgia, Florida, Indiana, below.
Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts,
British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. * Vaccinium X atlanticum Bicknell
In 1989, there were over 100,000 acres in * Vaccinium corymbosum L.
commercial fruit production in North America. More synonym: Vaccinium constablaei Gray
than 50 cultivars highbush blueberry have been * Vaccinium formosum Andr.
developed, primarily based on selections for synonym: Vaccinium australe Small
commercially valuable fruit characteristics and * Vaccinium fuscatum Ait.
seasonality. Good summaries of information relating synonym: Vaccinium arkansanum Ashe
to commercial fruit production are available (see synonym Vaccinium atrococcum (Gray) Heller
Reiger 2000; Garrison 1998). A few selections are synonym Vaccinium fuscatum Aiton
used in landscaping, especially where they might be *Vaccinium simulatum Small
planted in wet places and to attract wildlife. *Vaccinium virgatum Ait.
synonym: Vaccinium amoenum Aiton
The berries are eaten raw, smoke-dried, sun-dried, synonym: Vaccinium ashei Reade
boiled, and baked -- in a wide variety of culinary
settings. They have one of the highest concentrations

Plant Materials <http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/>

Plant Fact Sheet/Guide Coordination Page <http://plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov/intranet/pfs.html>
National Plant Data Center <http://npdc.usda.gov>
Highbush blueberry (V. corymbosum) hybridizes with
one of the “lowbush” blueberries (V. angustifolium Management
Ait.). Hybrids used in commercial fruit production Seeds or cuttings can propagate plants of highbush
are V. corymbosum X V. darrowi (southern highbush blueberry. Ideal soil for cultivation is moist, high in
blueberry), (V. arboreum X V. darrowi) x V. organic matter, highly acidic (4.5-5.5), and well
corymbosum (pollen donor), and southern highbush drained. The plants grow in full sun to partial shade,
blueberry hybrids X V. simulatum. but those in open sites produce more flowers and
have brighter fall foliage color. Highbush blueberry
Distribution: Widespread in eastern North America, (V. corymbosum) is self-fertile, but cross-pollination
from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and increases fruit set and results in larger, earlier berries
Ontario, Maine to Wisconsin, southward to South with more seeds (see Agriculture Western Australia
Carolina and Georgia and along the Gulf coast to 2000). Other species of the complex are partially or
Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas, and Oklahoma. It completely self-incompatible.
has been introduced outside of its natural range for
commercial berry production in Wisconsin, Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and
Washington, British Columbia, and New Brunswick. area of origin)
For current distribution, please consult the Plant These plant materials are readily available from
Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web commercial sources. Contact your local Natural
site. Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information.
Adaptation Look in the phone book under ”United States
Highbush blueberry grows best and most commonly Government.” The Natural Resources Conservation
in moist or wet peat of moderate to high acidity – in Service will be listed under the subheading
and around marshes, swamps, and lakes, often with “Department of Agriculture.”
extended flooding, as well as on floodplains,
sheltered slopes, and ravines. It also occurs in drier References
areas – dunes and barrier beaches, rocky hillsides, Agriculture Western Australia 2000. Bee pollination
oak woods, and pine woods. It occurs as a dominant benefits for blueberry crops. Web site.
or co-dominant on Appalachian "heath balds." All of <http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/programs/dairy/apicult
these are more or less open sites, and because of its ure/blueberry.htm#ref10>
shade intolerance, highbush blueberry can be
eliminated as shading increases with overstory cover. Camp, W.H. 1945. The North American blueberries
Flowering (February-)March-June, sporadically in with notes on other groups of Vacciniaceae.
the southern portion of its range; fruiting (April- Brittonia 5:203-275.
)May-October, about 62 days after flowering.
Garrison, N. 1998. Descriptions of blueberry
Establishment varieties in trial conducted by Nancy Garrison.
Highbush blueberry produces abundant fruit every Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County Online.
year. Bees are the primary pollinator. The seeds Univ. of California Cooperative Extension, Urban
may be widely dispersed in bird and mammal Horticulture Program.
droppings, but germination success can be reduced <http://www.mastergardeners.org/recommend/blueva
up to 15% after passing through an animal gut. In the r.html>
southern portion of its range, highbush blueberry
seeds have thick seed coats and require cold Reiger, M. 2000. Mark’s fruit crops. Univ. of
stratification before germination. Those from Georgia, Dept. of Horticulture. Web site.
northern regions produce thinner seed coats and <http://www.uga.edu/hortcrop/rieger/index.html>
germinate in the autumn after dispersal.
Uchytil, R.J. 1993. Vaccinium corymbosum. IN:
Some reports describe vigorous sprouting from the W.C. Fischer (compiler). The fire effects information
root-crown in highbush blueberry after top-kill by system [Data base]. U.S.D.A., Forest Service,
fire or disturbance, while others note that sprouting is Intermountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire
uncommon. This perhaps reflects the variability (and Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, Montana.
perhaps the taxonomic uncertainty) that exists within <http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/>
the species complex. Plants also have been noted to
occasionally produce root sprouts 1-2 meters away Uttal, L.J. 1986. Updating the genus Vaccinium
from the parent. (Ericaceae) in West Virginia. Castanea 51:197-201.
Uttal, L.J. 1987. The genus Vaccinium L.
(Ericaceae) in Virginia. Castanea 52:231-255.

Vander Kloet, S.P. 1980. The taxonomy of the

highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum. Canad.
J. Bot. 58:1187-1201.

Vander Kloet, S.P. 1988. The genus Vaccinium in

North America. Research Branch, Agriculture
Canada, Publ. 1828.

Prepared By
Guy Nesom
Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North
Carolina

Species Coordinator
Gerald Guala
USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, Baton
Rouge, Louisiana

Edited 17jan01 jsp;060818 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact
your local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the
PLANTS Web site<http://plants.usda.gov> or the Plant Materials
Program Web site <http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov>

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