Cranberry
Scientific name: Vaccinium oxycoccos L.
Diagnostic features
Procumbent shrub with stems to 30(80)cm.
Leaves (2)5-10(12) x 2-6mm, entire, evergreen, often widest near or not much below middle.
Bracteoles at or below middle of pedicel, less than 0.5mm wide.
Flowers in terminal groups of 1-c.5.
Pedicels minutely pubescent; corolla bright pink, with strongly reflexed lobes more than 5.5mm.
Stamens morethan 4mm with anthers (excluding processes) more than 1.4mm.
Style more than 5mm.
Fruit red, (6)8-10(15)mm across, globose to pear-shaped.
Chromosome number: (2n=48, 72).
Habitat
Native; bogs and very wet heaths.
Distribution
Locally frequent in much of Britain and Ireland, absent in most of South England, South Ireland and North Scotland.
This species is keyed out on Page 3416 in the Text Key. |
