Small Cranberry

Vaccinium microcarpum

Evergreen shrub, low on ground, often hidden by heather. Leaves shiny green above, pale blue-green beneath, arranged alternately along the stem and quite well separated, their margins turned under. Fruit pale green at first, eventually red or brownish, often spotted.
Small Cranberry Flower The Small Cranberry (Vaccinium microcarpum) flower in bloom at the Mer Bleue Conservation Area, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Ramsar site no. 755. Canada,Geotagged,Mer Bleue Conservation Area,Ontario,Ottawa,Small Cranberry,Spring,Vaccinium microcarpum

Appearance

Flower: Corolla wheel-shaped, approx. 4 mm (0.16 in.) broad, red–pink, fused, very deeply 4–5-lobed. Lobes recurved. Sepals 4, glabrous. Stamens 4 or 8. A single carpel. Flowers usually solitary terminating branches; flower-stalks long, erect, virtually glabrous.
Leaves: Alternate, short-stalked, overwintering. Blade triangularly ovate, narrow, tapered, leathery, dark green and shiny on top, underside light-coloured, with entire, revolute margins.
Fruit: Ovoid–spherical, 5–8 mm (0.2–0.32 in.) long, dark red, juicy, acidic, sweeter after frost.
Small Cranberry Flower The flower of the Small Cranberry (Vaccinium microcarpum) Mer Bleue Conservation Area, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Ramsar site no. 755. Canada,Geotagged,Mer Bleue Conservation Area,Ontario,Ottawa,Small Cranberry,Spring,Vaccinium microcarpum

Naming

(Turcz. ex Rupr.) Schmalh.

Distribution

Northern hemisphere:
N Heilongjiang (Da Hinggan Ling), S Jilin (Changbai Shan), NE Nei Mongol (Da Hinggan Ling) [Japan, Korea, Mongolia, E Russia; Europe, North America].

Status

Least Concern

Habitat

Habitat: Swamps and bogs, dryish hummocks.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://www.luontoportti.com/suomi/en/kukkakasvit/small-cranberry
https://species.nbnatlas.org/species/NBNSYS0000003919
Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionAngiosperms
ClassEudicots
OrderEricales
FamilyEricaceae
GenusVaccinium
SpeciesVaccinium microcarpum
Photographed in
Canada