Vaccinium crassifolium
Common name: 
Creeping Blueberry
Thick-leaved Whortlberry
Pronunciation: 
vak-SIN-ee-um kras-i-FO-li-um
Family: 
Ericaceae
Genus: 
Vaccinium
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Evergreen shrub, procumbent, shoots to 2 ft (60 cm).  Leaves alternate, simple, oval-elliptic to rounded, 8-15 mm, finely serrate, dark green above, paler below, thick.  Flower urn-shaped, red in bud, then pink and white, in somewhat pendulous clusters.  Fruit globose, 3-4 mm, purple-black.
  • Sun to part shade.  Prefers moist, well-drained, acidic soils.
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 7      Native to North Carolina and Georgia.
  • A few cultivars, such as:
    • 'Bloodstone' - a selection of V. crassifolium subsp. sempervirens from a native stand in North Carolina, very low growing, to 5-8 inches (12-20 cm) high, indefinitely spreading, dark green, somewhat glossy, reddish in winter.  Needs a well-drained site.
    • 'Wells Delight' - selected from a native stand in North Carolina, very low growing, to 5-8 inches (12-20 cm) high, branches trailing or low arching, leaves glossy dark green, slightly reddish in winter, fruit black to purplish black.
  • The Oregon Garden, Silverton: Conifer Garden.
Click image to enlarge
  • plant habit

    plant habit

  • leafy shoot

    leafy shoot