DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Vaccinium myrtilloides | Velvetleaf Blueberry 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Velvetleaf blueberry grows from central Labrador across Canada to
British Columbia and the Northwest Territories [90].  In eastern North
America, it extends southward through the mountains of New England, New
York, and Pennsylvania to West Virginia and Virginia [78,80,86].
Disjunct populations have been reported in the uplands of the
Appalachian Mountains [88].  Velvetleaf blueberry is also common in the
upper Midwest and Lake States [80].  Evidence suggests that this now
transcontinental species [43], was formerly restricted to the central
Arctic at the end of the Tertiary [78].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES10  White - red - jack pine
   FRES11  Spruce - fir
   FRES15  Oak - hickory
   FRES18  Maple - beech - birch
   FRES19  Aspen - birch
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES24  Hemlock - Sitka spruce
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine
   FRES44  Alpine


STATES : 
     CT  DE  ID  IL  IN  IA  ME  MA  MI  MN
     MT  NH  NY  OH  PA  VT  VA  WA  WV  WI
     AB  BC  LB  MB  NB  NF  NT  ON  PE  PQ
     SK  YT


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     GLAC  ACAD  APIS  BLRI  CUVA  ISRO
     PIRO  SLBE  VOYA  NERI


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K002  Cedar - hemlock - Douglas-fir
   K015  Western spruce - fir forest
   K093  Great Lakes spruce - fir forest
   K094  Conifer bog
   K095  Great Lakes pine forest
   K096  Northeastern spruce - fir forest
   K100  Oak - hickory forest
   K106  Northern hardwoods
   K107  Northern hardwoods - fir forest
   K108  Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
   K109  Transition between K104 and K106


SAF COVER TYPES : 
     1  Jack pine
     5  Balsam fir
    12  Black spruce
    13  Black spruce - tamarack
    14  Northern pin oak
    15  Red pine
    16  Aspen
    18  Paper birch
    19  Gray birch - red maple
    21  Eastern white pine
    22  White pine - hemlock
    23  Eastern hemlock
    30  Red spruce - yellow birch
    32  Red spruce
    33  Red spruce - balsam fir
    35  Paper birch - red spruce - balsam fir
    37  Northern white cedar
    38  Tamarack
   107  White spruce
   201  White spruce
   202  White spruce - paper birch
   204  Black spruce
   206  Engelmann spruce - subalpine fire
   218  Lodgepole pine
   227  Western hemlock - western redcedar
   251  White spruce - aspen
   253  Black spruce - white spruce
   254  Black spruce - paper birch


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
West: In the West, velvetleaf blueberry grows in submontane to subalpine
forests [43] dominated by lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), spruce (Picea
spp.), jack pine (Pinus banksiana), western hemlock (Tsuga
heterophylla), or western redcedar (Thuja ploicata) [90,97].  Velvetleaf
blueberry is a particularly common understory dominant on drier sites in
the sub-boreal spruce zone of British Columbia [93].

East:  In the Great Lakes region, velvetleaf blueberry commonly grows in
xero-mesophytic pine woodlands [90] and bracken fern (Pteridium
aquilinum)-grasslands [16].  Stands may be dominated by jack pine, black
spruce (Picea mariana), eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), red pine (P.
resinosa), quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), birch (Betula spp.), a
mixture of maple (Acer spp.)-aspen-birch (Betula spp.), eastern hemlock
(Tsuga canadensis), or tamarack (Larix laricina) [13,38,64,90].  In the
Maritime Provinces and northeastern United States, it grows in forests
made up of black spruce (Picea matiana), white spruce (P. glauca), red
spruce (P. rubens), and balsam fir (Abies balsamea) [23,90].  Further
south in Pennsylvania and the southern Appalachians, it grows in oak
(Quercus spp.)-hickory (Carya spp.) forests [75].

Velvetleaf blueberry grows abundantly with low sweet blueberry in
managed commercial blueberry stands in New England and the Maritimes
[33,59].  It is particularly common in recently cleared woodlots [5,30]
and is a common oldfield colonizer on farms which were abandoned during
the early part of the twentieth century [88]. 

Plant associates:  In eastern forests, low sweet blueberry, bunchberry
(Cornus canadensis), bog birch (Betula glandulosa), kalmia (Kalmia
angustifolia), cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus), bog Labrador tea (Ledum
glandulosum), creeping wintergreen (Gaultheria hispidula), wild
sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), red maple (Acer rubrum), bracken fern,
and Canada beadruby (Maianthemum canadense) are common associates
[23,28,68,85,90].  In the Great Lakes region and Upper Midwest, bracken
fern, low sweet blueberry, bunchberry, twinflower (Linnaea borealis),
bog Labrador tea, Canada beadruby, Cladonia spp. and various mosses
often occur with velvetleaf blueberry [14,39,90].  In western North
America, velvetleaf blueberry often grows with species such as
kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), dwarf huckleberry (Vaccinium
caespitosum), bunchberry, and Cladonia gracilis [90,93].

Published classifications listing velvetleaf blueberry an indicator of
community types or habitat types are presented below.

Jack pine - lichen woodland on sandy soils in northern Saskatchewan and
  northern Alberta [11]
Field guide habitat classification system: For Upper Peninsula of
  Michigan and northeast Wisconsin [13]
Forest community types of west-central Alberta in relation to selected
  environmental factors [14]
Application of a forest habitat-type classification system in Michigan and
  Wisconsin [45]
Field guide to forest habitat types of northern Wisconsin [46]
Habitat classification system for northern Wisconsin [47]
The Pinus contorta forests of Banff and Jasper National Parks: a study
  in comparitive synecology and syntaxonomy [51]

Related categories for Species: Vaccinium myrtilloides | Velvetleaf Blueberry