Vaccinium macrocarpon W. Aiton. Common name: Cranberry, Large Cranberry. Phenology: May-Jul; Aug-Nov. Habitat: Bogs (southwards mainly at medium to high elevations), low pocosins with deep peat, interdunal swales. Distribution: Unlike the circumboreal V. oxycoccus Linnaeus, V. macrocarpon is limited to North America. It ranges as a native plant from NL (Newfoundland) west and south to s. ON, MN, ne. IL, n. IN, n. and c. OH, PA, and NJ, extending south along the Appalachians as a disjunct rarity through WV, w. VA, and ne. and se. TN to w. NC, and south along the outer Coastal Plain as a disjunct rarity in e. MD, se. VA, and ne. and se. NC. The occurrence in the inner Coastal Plain (fall-line sandhills) along the Little River in Cumberland County, NC is questionably native.
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Other Comments: This is the familiar edible cranberry, raised commercially in artificial bogs, primarily in MA, WI, and NJ.
Synonymy ⓘ: = C, Can, F, FNA8, G, GW2, K4, Mi, NE, NY, Pa, RAB, Tat, Tn, Va, W, WV, Luteyn et al (1996), Smith et al (2015), Uttal (1987), Vander Kloet (1988); = Oxycoccus macrocarpon — Il; = Oxycoccus macrocarpus (Aiton) Pers. — S, S13. Basionym: Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton 1789
Links to other floras: = Vaccinium macrocarpon - FNA8
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Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: OBL
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: OBL
- Great Plains: OBL
- Midwest: OBL
- Northcentral & Northeast: OBL
Heliophily ⓘ: 8
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Horticultural Information
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Height: 6 in.
plant sale text: This is the cranberry that is grown commercially in the northeastern US, with its fruits used for food. In North Carolina, it is occasionally seen growing in bogs of the mountains and coastal plain. Large cranberry is a ground-hugging shrub that can spread several feet wide, though only a few inches in height. It tends to send out roots at its nodes, wherever its branches touch the ground. It makes a beautiful and unusual evergreen groundcover. Its ¾-inch berries are highly ornamental, as well as edible. The genus Vaccinium supports up to 286 lepidoptera species.
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native range: eastern North America
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