Question: Hi Botanists (Arthur?)! I'm trying to get a better sense of the difference between V. corymbosum and fuscatum. I'm seeing …
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Question
Hi Botanists (Arthur?)! I'm trying to get a better sense of the difference between V. corymbosum and fuscatum. I'm seeing conflicting information regarding the presence of leaf hairs (nerves only versus throughout) and the color of hairs (FNA mentions brown-gray to brown hairs but most plants I've seen and confirmed with floral/fruit characteristics display white to gray hairs). Does hair color change with drying? What characteristics are most helpful when flowers/fruits are not present? Thanks
Answer
Dear Dan, good morning. There has been some recent taxonomic work that suggests some of the characters that were used by Uttal (1987) are more regional and do not work throughout the range of Vaccinium fuscatum (and certainly not in New England). I relied heavily on that work and it simply doesn't fit (perfectly) for northeastern material. A new paper has come out (2025) that recognizes only two species: a diploid (V. fuscatum) and a tetraploid (V. corymbosum). While I have reservations about how they treat the diploid portion of this complex, that research explains some of the reasons why we are seeing different character states in the northeast. While the authors try to make the claim that pubescence (amounnt, color) are virtually meaningless in discriminating species, there are trends that suggest your plant is most likely V. fuscatum. If you want to email me (ahaines@nativeplanttrust.org) I'll send you an updated identificaiton key that will assist with your work. I hope you are well.
