Vaccinieae

Lingonberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea, photographed by Jonas Bergsten.

Belongs within: Vaccinioideae.

The Vaccinieae is a clade within the Ericaceae including Vaccinium (blueberries, cranberries, etc.) and related taxa. They are distinguished from closely related taxa by production of fleshy fruits though the fruit testa may vary from thin (e.g. Vaccinium) to bony (e.g. Gaylussacia). The berries of many Vaccinium species are widely eaten by humans, such as the lowbush blueberry V. angustifolium and common cranberry V. oxycoccos. Other members include the southeast Asian genus Agapetes, mostly epiphytic shrubs with flowers bearing usually long, tubular or cylindric corollas.

Characters (from Kron et al. 2002): Shrubs, small trees, or lianas, often epiphytic. Leaves evergreen or deciduous, non-ericoid, entire or serrate, convolute in bud. Leaf epidermal cells not lignified. Indumentum of short- to long-stalked glandular or non-glandular hairs. Inflorescence usually axillary, rarely terminal, paniculate, racemose or fasciculate, or solitary axillary flowers; bracts present, bracteoles usually paired, variable in position; calyx articulated with pedicel or not. Flowers usually 4- or 5-merous, rarely 3 or 6-7-merous, actinomorphic. Calyx lobes small to large, persistent, calyx winged or not; corolla almost always sympetalous, usually urceolate or tubular, sometimes winged, the lobes small to large. Stamens 5-10(-14), the filaments more or less straight, sometimes connate, unicellular pubescent, roughened, or smooth, sometimes spurred (with either one spur or, more commonly, a pair of spurs) on the anther-filament junction; anthers slightly to clearly roughened, usually lacking disintegration tissue, usually with tubules, dehiscing by pores or slitlike pores at end of tubules. Ovary (3-)4-5(-7)-locular, or 10-locular due to secondary division of each locule, with axile placentation, inferior; style impressed; stigma more or less truncate. Fruit fleshy, a berry or 10-pitted drupe; seeds with short to elongate testa cells; embryo with 2 cotyledons.

<==Vaccinieae [Thibaudieae, Vacciniiae]
    |--Costera endertii KJ02
    |--Symphysia racemosa KJ02 [=Vaccinium racemosum J87]
    |--Themistoclesia costaricensis KJ02
    |--Disterigma trimerum KJ02
    |--Gonocalyx smilacifolius KJ02
    |--Anthopteropsis KJ02
    |--Anthopterus KJ02
    |--Demosthenesia KJ02
    |--Didonica KJ02
    |--Diogenesia KJ02
    |--Lateropora KJ02
    |--Notopora KJ02
    |--Oreanthes KJ02
    |--Pellegrinia KJ02
    |--Polyclita KJ02
    |--Rusbya KJ02
    |--Semiramisia KJ02
    |--Siphonandra KJ02
    |--Utleya KJ02
    |--Cavendishia KJ02
    |    |--C. complectens KJ02
    |    `--C. tarapotana KJ02
    |--Satyria KJ02
    |    |--S. meiantha KJ02
    |    `--S. warszewiczii KJ02
    |--Paphia KJ02
    |    |--P. meiniana KJ02
    |    `--P. stenantha KJ02
    |--Thibaudia KJ02
    |    |--T. densiflora S56
    |    |--T. rauhii Smith 1956 S56
    |    `--T. regularis S56
    |--Gaylussacia KJ02
    |    |--G. frondosa KJ02
    |    |--G. nana KJ02
    |    `--G. ursina EBS98
    |--Psammisia KJ02
    |    |--P. columbiana KJ02
    |    |--P. dolichopoda KJ02
    |    `--P. sclerantha KJ02
    |--Ceratostema KJ02
    |    |--C. callistum Smith 1956 S56
    |    |--C. lanigerum KJ02
    |    |--C. pensile S56
    |    `--C. peruvianum S56
    |--Sphyrospermum KJ02
    |    |--S. buxifolium KJ02
    |    |--S. cordifolium KJ02
    |    |--S. majus J87
    |    `--S. venustum Smith 1956 S56
    |--Macleania KJ02
    |    |--M. bullata KJ02
    |    |--M. insignis KJ02
    |    |--M. rotundifolia KJ02
    |    `--M. rupestris KJ02
    |--Dimorphanthera KJ02
    |    |--D. alba H03
    |    |--D. amoena KJ02
    |    |--D. amplifolia H03
    |    |--D. arfakensis H03
    |    |--D. bracteata H03
    |    |--D. collinsii H03
    |    |    |--D. c. var. collinsii H03
    |    |    `--D. c. var. montis-wilhelmi H03
    |    |--D. dekockii KJ02
    |    |--D. glauca H03
    |    |--D. longistyla H03
    |    |--D. napuensis H03
    |    |--D. papillata H03
    |    |--D. pulchra H03
    |    |--D. tedentii H03
    |    |--D. viridiflora H03
    |    |--D. wisselensis H03
    |    `--D. womersleyi H03
    |         |--D. w. var. womersleyi H03
    |         `--D. w. var. continua H03
    |--Agapetes KJ02
    |    |--A. affinis BB05
    |    |--A. borii BB05
    |    |--A. buxifolia BB05
    |    |--A. forrestii BB05
    |    |--A. hosseana KJ02
    |    |--A. incurvata BB05
    |    |--A. interdicta BB05
    |    |--A. kudukii H03
    |    |--A. meiniana H03
    |    |--A. mitrarioides Hooker ex Clarke 1881 B03
    |    |--A. neriifolia BSM03
    |    |    |--A. n. var. neriifolia BSM03
    |    |    |--A. n. var. maxima BSM03
    |    |    `--A. n. var. minor (King & Prain) Airy Shaw 1958 [=Desmogyne minor King & Prain 1901] BSM03
    |    |--A. odontocera BB05
    |    |--A. prostrata H03
    |    |--A. refracta BB05
    |    |--A. scortechinii KJ02
    |    |--A. serpens BB05
    |    |    |--A. s. var. serpens BB05
    |    |    `--A. s. var. alba BB05
    |    |--A. shungolensis H03
    |    `--A. sleumeriana H03
    `--Vaccinium MK08
         |--V. acuminatissimum H03
         |    |--V. a. f. acuminatissimum H03
         |    `--V. a. f. ellipticum H03
         |--V. albicans H03
         |--‘Dimorphanthera’ albida H03
         |--V. altiterrae H03
         |--V. ampullaceum KJ02
         |--V. angustifolium DC10
         |--V. bancanum M77
         |    |--V. b. var. bancanum M77
         |    `--V. b. var. tenuinervium [incl. Mastixia gracilis King 1902] M77
         |--V. borneense H03
         |--V. bracteatum H03
         |--V. caespitosum [incl. V. arbuscula, V. nivictum] H93
         |--V. candidum H03
         |--V. cercidifolium KJ02
         |--V. consanguineum MM96
         |--V. coriaceum H03
         |    |--V. c. var. coriaceum H03
         |    `--V. c. var. hirsuticalyx H03
         |--V. corymbosum KJ02
         |--V. crenatum KJ02
         |--V. deliciosum H93
         |--V. dendrocharis PS06
         |    |--V. d. ssp. dendrocharis PS06
         |    `--V. d. ssp. talle Panda & Sanjappa 2006 PS06
         |--V. dominans H03
         |--V. dunalianum P05
         |--V. fissiflorum H03
         |--V. horizontale H03
         |--V. leptospermoides H03
         |--V. littoreum H03
         |--V. macrocarpon KJ02 [=Oxycoccus macrocarpus C55]
         |--V. membranaceum H93
         |--V. meridionale KJ02
         |--V. microcarpum KJ02
         |--V. miquelii H03
         |--V. myrsinites KJ02
         |--V. myrtillus KJ02
         |--V. nummularia O88
         |--V. nuttallii P05
         |--V. ovalifolium V72
         |--V. ovatum [incl. V. ovatum var. saporosum] H93
         |--V. oxycoccos H03
         |--V. paradisearum H03
         |--V. parvifolium H93
         |--V. poasanum KJ02
         |--V. reichwaldianum JD05
         |--V. reticulatum MK08
         |--V. retusum PS06
         |--V. scoparium H93
         |--V. sikkimense O88
         |--V. stanleyi PB27
         |--V. striicaule H03
         |--V. subdissitifolium P05
         |--V. tenax H03
         |--V. uliginosum H03
         |    |--V. u. ssp. uliginosum H93
         |    `--V. u. ssp. occidentale H93
         |--V. uniflorum H03
         |--V. vacciniaceum D07
         |--V. vacillans H03
         |--V. varingiaefolium H03
         |--V. vitis-idaea KJ02
         `--V. whitmeei H03

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B03] Banik, D. 2003. Re-collection of Agapetes mitrarioides Hook. f. ex C.B. Clarke (Ericaceae) from Arunachal Pradesh, India. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 45: 209–212.

[BB05] Banik, D., & P. Bujarbarua. 2005. Lichens on Agapetes D. Don ex G. Don (Ericaceae) in India. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 47: 59–62.

[BSM03] Banik, D., A. Sharma & Muthu. J. 2003. Agapetes neriifolia (King & Prain) Airy Shaw var. minor (King & Prain) Airy Shaw—a new record for India. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 45: 213–216.

[C55] Candolle, A. de. 1855. Géographie Botanique Raisonée: Ou exposition des faits principaux et des lois concernant la distribution géographique des plantes de l’époque actuelle vol. 2. Librairie de Victor Masson: Paris.

[D07] Dash, S. S. 2007. Useful plants of Kabi Sacred Grove, Sikkim. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 49: 79–88.

[DC10] Drummond, F. A., J. A. Collins, B. Choate, D. Woodman, D. T. Jennings, H. Y. Forsythe, Jr & J. C. Cokendolpher. 2010. Harvestman (Opiliones) fauna associated with Maine lowbush blueberry fields in the major production areas of Washington and Hancock counties. Environmental Entomology 39 (5): 1428–1440.

[EBS98] Elliott, K. J., L. R. Boring & W. T. Swank. 1998. Changes in vegetation structure and diversity after grass-to-forest succession in a southern Appalachian watershed. American Midland Naturalist 140: 219–232.

[H03] Heads, M. 2003. Ericaceae in Malesia: vicariance biogeography, terrane tectonics and ecology. Telopea 10 (1): 311–449.

[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).

[J87] Judd, W. S. 1987. Floristic study of Morne La Visite and Pic Macaya National Parks, Haiti. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum—Biological Sciences 32 (1): 1–136.

[JD05] Junge, F. W., M. Dolezych, H. Walther, T. Böttger, A. Kühl, L. Kunzmann, P. Morgenstern, T. Steinberg & R. Stange. 2005. Ein Fenster in Landschaft und Vegetation vor 37 Millionen Jahren: Lithologische, sedimentgeochemische und paläobotanische Befunde aus einem Paläoflusssystem des Weißelsterbeckens. Mauritiana 19 (2): 185–273.

[KJ02] Kron, K. A., W. S. Judd, P. F. Stevens, D. M. Crayn, A. A. Anderberg, P. A. Gadek, C. J. Quinn & J. L. Luteyn. 2002. Phylogenetic classification of Ericaceae: molecular and morphological evidence. Botanical Review 68: 335–423.

[M77] Matthew, K. M. 1977. Cornaceae. Flora Malesiana, Series I—Spermatophyta, Flowering Plants 8 (2): 85–97.

[MK08] Mockford, E. L., & P. D. Krushelnycky. 2008. New species and records of Liposcelis Motschulsky (Psocoptera: Liposcelididae) from Hawaii with first description of the male of Liposcelis bostrychophila Badonnel. Zootaxa 1766: 53–68.

[MM96] Mound, L. A., & R. Marullo. 1996. The thrips of Central and South America: an introduction (Insecta: Thysanoptera). Memoirs on Entomology, International 6: 1–487.

[O88] Ohba, H. 1988. The alpine flora of the Nepal Himalayas: an introductory note. In: Ohba, H., & S. B. Malla (eds) The Himalayan Plants vol. 1. The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 19–46.

[P05] Panda, S. 2005. Gaultheria brevistipes (C.Y. Wu & T.Z. Hsu) R.C. Fang (Ericaceae)—a new record for India from Talle Valley, Arunachal Pradesh. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 47: 177–182.

[PS06] Panda, S., & M. Sanjappa. 2006. Three new taxa of Ericaceae from India. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 48: 157–164.

[PB27] Pilsbry, H. A., & J. Bequaert. 1927. The aquatic mollusks of the Belgian Congo, with a geographical and ecological account of Congo malacology. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 53 (2): 69–602, pls 10–77.

[S56] Smith, A. C. 1956. Studies of South American plants, XVI. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 46 (4): 113–115.

[V72] Voss, E. G. 1972. Michigan Flora. Part I. Gymnosperms and Monocots. Cranbrook Institute of Science and University of Michigan Herbarium.

Last updated: 22 April 2020.