Participant Info

Species

Vaccinium myrtillus [Vaccinium oreophilum]

Family

Ericaceae

CommonName

bilberry, whortleberry, European blueberry

Presence

YES

Status

native

EarliestDate

1892

LatestDate

2020

Ecosystem

montane, subalpine, tundra

Geobotanical

SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, Culebras, NCristos

Counties

Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache, Archuleta, San Juan

Passes

Elwood, Hayden, Music, Stony

WildlifePreserves

Big Meadows Reservoir

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

YES Rich Haswell: Rio Grande Co, on FR 332, 23 June 2020

Comments

Vaccinium myrtillus is the Watershed’s most common huckleberry, thriving in all mountain ranges—in part thanks to bears, whose scat often contains viable seeds. The plant is usually found in shaded open spots in conifer woods, sometimes in Krummholz or alpine meadows or on lower-elevation rocky ridges. In the Southern San Juan Mountains Wilderness, Sharples (2017) found Vaccinium myrtillus "abundant", whereas Vaccinium cespitosum was "rare" and V. scoparium "common." In the USA it is found in the Central and Northern Rockies. It is present in New Mexico down to Socorro Co, but no farther in the Rio Grande drainage.

Annotation