Click the number at the start of a key lead to highlight both that lead and its corresponding lead. Click again to show only the two highlighted leads. Click a third time to return to the full key with the selected leads still highlighted.
2 Leaves narrowly elliptic, glabrous above, glaucous-white below; leaf margin entire and eglandular; berry red when ripe, 8-15 mm long; [cranberries; section Oxycoccus] | |
2 Leaves elliptic, puberulent above, pale green below; leaf margin obscurely to fairly strongly serrate and glandular; berry black when ripe, 6-8 mm long; [creeping blueberries; section Herpothamnus] | |
1 Erect shrubs, the growth form various (single-stemmed, multi-stemmed and clump-like, or clonal with numerous erect shoots from a network of subterranean rhizomes); leaves deciduous to semi-evergreen (evergreen in V. myrsinites), dull to somewhat glossy and medium green above (dark green and glossy in V. myrsinites), generally exceeding 20 mm in length (5-30 mm long in V. myrsinites). | |
3 Twigs of the season verrucose (the surface abundantly covered with small bumps, readily visible without magnification); [blueberries; section Cyanococcus] | |
3 Twigs of the season not verrucose. | |
4 Corolla lobes 5, not or only slightly recurved, 1-8 mm long; calyx lobes 5 (also visible on the berry); leaves elliptic, obovate, oblanceolate, or nearly round, the apex generally obtuse to rounded, the margin entire to obscurely and irregularly serrate; [collectively widespread in our area, but not at high elevations]. | |
5 Mature leaves pale and glaucous, eglandular beneath, mostly elliptic, 3-10 cm long; corolla campanulate, the stamens long-exserted; berry green, yellow, pink, or purple, usually glaucous, 7-18 mm long; [deerberries; section Polycodium] |