Vaccinium angustifolium
Vaccinium angustifolium, commonly known as the wild lowbush blueberry, is a species of blueberry native to eastern and central Canada (from Manitoba to Newfoundland) and the northeastern United States, growing as far south as the Great Smoky Mountains and west to the Great Lakes region. Etymology. The species epithet "angustifolium" is a combination of the Latin words meaning 'narrow', and meaning 'leaf'. It shares this epithet with other species of plants including "Epilobium angustifolium". Description. "Vaccinium angustifolium" is a low spreading deciduous shrub growing tall. Its rhizomes can lay dormant up to 100 years, and when given the  adequate amount of sunlight, soil moisture, and oxygen content they will sprout. The leaves are glossy blue-green in summer, turning a variety of reds in the fall. The leaf shape is broad to elliptical. Buds are brownish red in stem axils. The flowers are white, bell-shaped, long. The fruit is a small sweet dark blue to black berry, full of antioxidants and flavonoids. This plant grows best in wooded areas, old abandoned farmyards or open areas with well-drained acidic soils. In some areas it produces natural blueberry barrens, where it is practically the only species covering large  areas. Several buds may be on a healthy stem, and each bud can open up and have several blossoms. A blueberry field that has full plant coverage can have as many as 150 million blossoms per acre. The "Vaccinium angustifolium" plant is fire-tolerant, and its numbers often increase in an area following a forest fire. Traditionally, blueberry growers burn their fields every few years to eliminate shrubs and fertilize the soil. In Acadian French, a blueberry field is known as a (from 'burnt') because of that technique, which is still in use. Distribution and habitat. The lowbush blueberry is  native to Canada, Maine, and Massachusetts and also grown commercially there, mainly harvested from managed wild patches. It is also a favorite of recreational berry pickers, black bears, coyotes, racoons, foxes, porcupines, white-tailed deer and birds. To help keep the unwanted individuals out of the blueberry fields and from damaging or eating the crop, growers will fence their fields and connect power or use an automated surround sound speaker system called a bird squawker. This bird squawker is set up on a timer system to send out predator bird sounds during the day, and at night, the system can  be programmed to discourage nighttime crop feeders. While eating blueberries, black bears roll around and damage the surrounding crop. They forage on the berries from daylight to dark. Its leaves are also popular among caterpillars. It is a larval host to the pale tiger moth, the peppered moth, the chain-dotted geometer, the saw-wing moth, the blueberry gray moth, the mousy angle moth, "Caloptilia vacciniella", Andromeda underwing, the shadowy arches, the two-spot dart, the dingy cutworm moth, the speckled cutworm, the decorated owlet, the pirate looper, Norman's dart, the gray swordgrass moth, the pink-edged sulphur butterfly , the pawpaw sphinx moth, and the blueberry leaftier moth. Pollination. During the harvest year, blueberry growers rent honey bee hives to put in their fields for pollination. These hives are placed in the fields at a density range of anywhere from 1-8 hives per acre. The hives are placed in the fields at 10-20% bloom allowing the bees to have enough forage rather than going elsewhere to forage. Hives are left in blueberry fields for 2 weeks on average, allowing the bees to pollinate the variety of clones in the field, all of which bloom at different times  during the two-week period. Some growers also use bumble bees as well in hopes of maximum pollination. Bumblebees will fly in colder and wetter weather conditions than the honey bee will, and they also pollinate in a different way than the honey bee. Bumblebees can sonicate the flowers, which releases pollen from deep inside the poricidal anthers. This is known as buzz-pollination. Blueberry growers also rely on many wild bees for pollination, including solitary bees like "Andrena carlini" and "Colletes inaequalis." Pruning. Native Americans regularly burned away trees and shrubs in parts of eastern Maine to stimulate blueberry  production. Modern farmers use various methods of burning or mowing to accomplish this. There are several methods growers use to stimulate blueberry production on their land, such as burning the land or using a flail mower, bush hog, lawnmower, etc. to cut the plants off as close to the ground as possible without scalping the land. These procedures are used to promote the spreading of rhizomes under the soil. Some growers use a sickle bar mower in the fall after the crop has been harvested to mow the plants off, leaving roughly 1 to 2 inches of stem so the  growers can then burn the remainder of the plants in the spring, using less fuel for the fire. Products. Roughly 90% of wild low bush blueberries are sold IQF (Individual Quick Frozen). Some berries are fresh-packed during harvest season and sold at farm markets and grocery stores. There is 100% pure wild blueberry juice on the market. The fruit can be used to make a wide variety of food products such as blueberry smoothies, blueberry sauce for waffles, blueberry grunt, blueberry lemon loaf, blueberry crisp, blueberry muffins, blueberry jam, blueberry martinis. It can be used for a topping on  cereal or yogurt. Nova Scotia wild blueberries are exported to the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other countries. Nutrition. Wild blueberries are a good source of Vitamin C and dietary fiber. They contain no fat, sodium, or cholesterol and are only 80 calories per cup of berries. Recent studies have shown that the pigments in the berries' skin can provide health benefits to the consumer. These pigments are called anthocyanins which contain antioxidants. The antioxidants in the berry help to fight compounds called free radicals, which can cause cancer, heart disease, other diseases, and premature aging. In  a USDA study, wild blueberries were found to have the highest level of antioxidants out of 40 fruits and vegetables. Tannins, which are found in wild blueberries and cranberries, can prevent the bacteria that cause urinary tract infections from attaching to the bladder and urinary tract wall, thus allowing them to pass through the body without causing any harm. State fruits. The lowbush blueberry is the state fruit of Maine, and the wild low bush blueberry is also the Nova Scotian Provincial Berry. Oxford, Nova Scotia is nicknamed "Wild Blueberry Capital of Canada."