Vaccinium angustifolium
Common name: 
Lowbush Blueberry
Pronunciation: 
vak-SIN-ee-um an-gus-ti-FO-li-um
Family: 
Ericaceae
Genus: 
Vaccinium
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Deciduous, low growing shrub or ground cover, 0.5-2 ft (15-120 cm) tall and may spread to 2 ft wide, twiggy, open.  Leaves alternate, simple, lanceolate, 0.7-2 cm long, acute at ends serrulata with bristle-pointed teeth, green and lustrous on both sides; attractive red, bronze fall color.  Flowers greenish white with pink tinges, urn-shaped, 6-7 mm long, in short, dense clusters.  Fruit bluish black, covered with waxy bloom, 5-8 mm across.
  • Sun to part shade.  Best is soil that is moist, high in organic matter, very acidic (pH 4.5-5.5) and well-drained soil.  Some selections are offered that have superior fall color.
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 2      Native from Newfoundland, Maine, east to Saskatchewan and Minnesota, south to New York and Pennsylvania.  The colorful cultivar, 'Burgundy', is a popular landscape plant.
  • The wild, but managed, lowbush blueberry acreage in Maine is about 60,000 acres; it is the source of the state's major fruit crop.
  • angustifolium: from angusta, narrow, and folium, leaves; having narrow leaves.
Click image to enlarge
  • plant habit

    plant habit

  • leaves

    leaves