Single Record
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
- Other Localities
- 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