CRANBERRY (Vaccinium oxycoccos)

INTRODUCTION Cranberry, common name for several species of low vines of a genus of the heath family, and for their small, sour, seedy fruit. The plants, which belong to the same genus as the blueberry, have drooping, pink flowers and small, thick, evergreen leaves. The small, or European, cranberry grows wild in marshlands of temperate and colder regions of Europe and North America. The large, or American, cranberry is cultivated in the northeastern United States in sand-covered bogs that can be flooded or drained at will. Flooding protects the vines from frosts and freezing weather and destroys insect pests. Most of the cranberry crop produced in the United States each year is canned as sauce or jelly or bottled as juice. The cowberry, or mountain cranberry, is common in both Europe and North America. It is gathered and sold in considerable quantity but is rarely cultivated. The highbush cranbe rry, with its clusters of white flowers followed by red berries, is a shrub of the honeysuckle family. Its fruit is sometimes used as a substitute for cranberries.

Plant Characteristics V. oxycoccos is an evergreen creeping shrub with fine woody stems and young growth that is reddish brown, a diminutive and vine-like version of some of its lowerlatitude congeners. Stems are generally only several cm in height (but can reach 10-40 cm), bearing 5 mm by 3 mm ovate or elliptical leaves with a dark green proximal surface,a lighter, waxy distal surface, and distinctive curled margins.xiv Flowers are borne either singly or in groups of up to four flowers. They are either white or pink, with red bracts and reflexed corollas.xv Flowerappear between May and July and the reflexed corolla and protruuding andoecium give impression of a shooting star. Pojar and MacKinnon (1994) note that the small (5 -10 mm), pink to red, juicy berries may look oversized on the plant. Berries are edible. V. oxycoccos can be distinguised from V. macrocarpon by its generally smaller size and its leaf morphology.

TAXONOMY Family Names Family Scientific Name: Family Common Name: Scientific Names Genus: Species: Species Authority: Variety: Sub-species: Cultivar: Authority for Variety/Sub-species: Common Name(s): Ericaceae heather Vaccinium oxycoccos L.

bog cranberry, small cranberry, wild cranberry, swamp

DISTRIBUTION The small, or European, cranberry grows wild in marshlands of temperate and colder regions of Europe and North America. The large, or American, cranberry is cultivated in the northeastern United States in sand-covered bogs that can be flooded or drained at will. Most of the cranberry crop produced in the United States each year is canned as sauce or jelly or bottled as juice. The cowberry, or mountain cranberry, is common in both Europe and North America.

Distribution in the US and Canada

Distribution in Washington State

A. Geographical Range From northern temperature through subarctic regions in northern North America, Europe, and Asia (including the western coast of Greenland and Japan). The maps above show the distribution in Northa America and Washington State.

B. Ecological Distribution (Ecosystems it occurs in) Like many members of Vaccinium, it has very specific habitat requirements: acidic soils (pH of 2.9 to 3.8), high soil moisture, and colder temperatures than the American cranberry (V. macrocarpon). As a result, V. oxycoccos is distributed widely across the northern latitudes in swamps, bogs, fens, and wet subalpine meadows. The species quickly recolonizes appropriate wetland sites after burning. C. Climate and elevation range Grows in low to mid-elevations, sometimes up to alpine habitats. Tolerates cold temperatures due to trailing growth form, reaching subarctic latitudes. D. Local habitat and abundance Locally, V. oxycoccos is most frequently found in covered in Sphagnum moss in lowelevation bogs; frequently, it is partially covered by moss. E. Plant Strategy Type: Stress-tolerator, competitor, weedy/colonizer, seral, late successional

Possible Limiting Factor As an early colonizer following fires and a shade -intolerant species, V. oxycoccos can be described as seral and probably intolerant to overstory canopy closure.

References: Microsoft Encarta, 2009. Spring. 2009. Plant Propagation Protocol for Vaccinium oxycoccos L. <http://www.longwoodherbal.org/cranberry/cranberry.pdf >