Blueberries in the Snow

  Haha- you didn't think you'd be seeing BERRIES in February, did you? What I want you to see is that you can easily tell our two common blueberries apart, even in winter.

The really short ones- usually under a foot tall, and barely poking through the snow last week are Lowbush Blueberry, Vaccninium angustifolium. I once told someone this scientific name, and got the response "Geshundeit!"

But also growing profusely in our area are a taller blueberry. These bushes are generally about two feet tall. I'm pretty sure these are Vaccinium pallidum (formerly V. vacillans. You can tell they are much more shrub-like than the short ones. This one has several common names: Blue Ridge blueberry, or hillside blueberry, or confusingly enough- late or early lowbush blueberry. I suppose this is because it is shorter in relation to highbush blueberry (the cultivated ones at blueberry farms), but it's clearly taller than the one in the top picture.

I learned today that there are at least 28 recognized species of blueberry! (they don't all grow in Michigan) I don't know if you can distinguish any of them by taste, but I certainly can't tell these two apart by their flavor.

Enjoy a picture from their fruting season!

In other news: I shoveled more. I actually got out of the driveway, and more to the point, back in again after I went to the bank. I participated in an on-line book promotion event this evening. (You can sign up for other readings in many genres throughout February at Pages Promotion)

See Dead Horse Marsh in Winter