Four years ago, when I went to Maine for college, I learned that blueberries could be divided into 2 different categories: high bush and low bush blueberries. Until that point, I never thought of it as such–they were just blueberries, a delicious treat! Yesterday, my understanding of blueberries was augmented further when I learned to identify six different species of blueberries–3 high bush blueberries, and 3 low blush blueberries. And, to complicate the matter more, the species of blueberries can hybridize!

Yesterday, we got to spend our day hiking a mountain, as opposed to our normal routine spent more along the coast or in fields. North Pack Monadnock is located at the end of the Wapack Trail in Greenfield, New Hampshire. In addition to getting to hike a mountain, we got to collect blueberries along the way. In other words, best day ever (and to add to it, the high temperature was only supposed to be 80 degrees!!)

View from the summit of North Pack Monadnock

To begin our day, we needed to ensure that we understood the difference between the species of blueberries. From a previous plant survey on the mountain, we knew that Common Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), Velvetleaf Blueberry (Vaccinium myrtilloides), Early Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium pallidum), and Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) are all found on the mountain. Vaccinium corymbosum is the only high bush blueberry on the list, making plants taller than about 3 feet pretty easy to identify.

Vaccinium corymbosum

However, this is not the case with low bush blueberries (the other 3 species mentioned). Vaccinium myrtilloides is the easiest to identify, as it is covered in fine hairs on both the twigs and the leaves, and feels very soft or velvety to the touch.

Vaccinium myrtilloides

Unfortunately, the ease of identification stops there. Vaccinium angustifolium and Vaccinium pallidum are very similar, and the best identifying feature according to the Flora Nova-Angliea is the width and length of the leaves. V. angustifolium has smaller, skinnier leaves for the most part. To our knowledge, we only found V. angustifolium. 

Vaccinium angustifolium

Fortunately for us, we had a species list to use to springboard our identification because in New England there are 3 species of high-bush blueberries, and 6 species of low-bush blueberries. The other species of blueberries don’t grow in the habitat where we spent our day, so thankfully really understanding those species can be saved for another day.

All in all, yesterday was a magical day spent in the woods, picking blueberries, meeting friendly dogs, and staying out of the sun!

Happy campers in the woods!

I can’t believe we are already halfway done with our internship! We have gotten to explore so many great places, and I have learned to identify so many plants. I look forward to collecting more seeds, hopefully seeing some rain, and getting to further my knowledge of plants as the internship continues!

–Julia Rogers, SOS Intern, New England Wild Flower Society