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NC Native Plant Society:
Plant Details

Vaccinium macrocarpon

Cranberry

Scientific Name:

Vaccinium macrocarpon

Genus:

Vaccinium

Species Epithet:

macrocarpon

Common Name:

Cranberry

Plant Type

Shrub

Life Cycle

Perennial

Plant Family

Ericaceae (Heath Family)

Native/Alien:

NC Native

Size:

0-1 ft., 1-3 ft.

Bloom Color(s):

White, Pink

Light:

Sun - 6 or more hours of sun per day

Soil Moisture:

Moist, Wet

Bloom Time:

May, June, July

Growing Area:

Mountains, Coastal Plain

Habitat Description:

Mountain bogs, low pocosins with deep peat, interdunal swales. Rare in NC Mountains and Coastal Plain.

Leaf Arrangement:

Alternate

Leaf Retention:

Deciduous

Leaf Type:

Leaves veined, not needle-like or scale-like

Leaf Form:

Simple

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Wildlife Value:

Important for Wildlife

Landscape Value:

Recommended and Available

State Rank:

S2: Imperiled (*Key)

Global Rank:

G5 - Secure (*Key)

State Status:

T: Threatened (*Key)

Notes:

This is the familiar edible cranberry, raised commercially in artificial bogs, primarily in MA, WI, and NJ. The occurrence in the inner Coastal Plain (fall-line sandhills) along the Little River in Cumberland County, NC is questionably native.
Listed on NCNHP site as threatened in Allegheny, Ashe, Avery, Bladen, Brunswick, Burke, Caldwell, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Haywood, Hyde, Transylvania, Tyrrell, and Watauga counties in North Carolina.

Bloom

image

Tom Harville

Petals curve back as it ages.

Plants

image

Tom Harville

This is a trailing shrub with erect branches.

Waning Blooms

image

Tom Harville
July 07

Berries in late winter

image

Paynter, March 2011

Links:

USDA PLANTS Database Record


Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Flora of North America
 



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