Taxonomy
Blueberry is the name for several wild shrub species in the genus vaccinium, including cranberry. These are semiligneous shrubs with oval leaves and white or pink pendulous flowers. The fruits, also known as blueberries, are a kind of berry. The genus vaccinium is divided into two subgenera and includes a total of 450 species, most of which live in the northern hemisphere with temperate and cold climates.
There is no shortage of blueberries in the mountains of tropical areas such as Madagascar, Hawaii, and Java. Bilberry, false blueberry, bog blueberry, and cranberry grow wild in Europe in forests and heaths up to 2,500 meters above sea level. For food distribution, giant blueberries with fruits twice the size of the wild species are usually cultivated.
The plant and the fruits
Vaccinium macrocarpon(i.e., cranberry) is a low-growing, upright developing plant. The shrub is characterized by small alternate oval leaves, with a bare stem at the bottom and full of branching at the top. The plant produces both vegetative and fruiting buds, and each fruiting bud can produce up to 7 flowers-most of these are formed from flowers on the shoots, but some berries also form from flowers on the end of horizontal branches. As for the leaves, their color is dark green during the growth period, and turns reddish brown during the dormant season. The fruits of the cultivated species are larger than those in the wild and consist of round red berries with a sour-tasting pulp.
The berries ripen in early fall and are harvested in October. Due to their hard skin they keep fresh for some time.
Source: The Cranberry – A fruit that never ceases to amaze by Mediserve
