copyright: M. Salett 1998

While the English berry is small, of a pale red, the American one is large, and richly colored; some specimens are as deeply crimsoned as a dark-hued cherry..  The leaves, blossom, and fruit of the latter, also, are much larger, and the flavor greatly superior. . . . from experience and practical knowledge, we can testify to the superiority of the American cranberry over all others that we have ever met with.    -- B. Eastwood, 1856   Complete Manual for the Cultivation of the Cranberry

Cranberry Botany
 
        Vaccinium macrocarpon, the American or large cranberry, is the only species of the wild berry that is cultivated commercially (Eck 1990).  A member of the Heath family (Ericaceae), it is a  small evergreen shrub that thrives in the acidic, nutrient-poor soils of peatlands.  Its geographic range roughly corresponds  with the path of the Laurentide glaciers of the late Pleistocene Epoch (100,000 - 10,000 year ago).   The American cranberry grows wild  in wetlands from Newfoundland and the Canadian Maritime provinces to Ontario; from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan to New Jersey, Long Island and Southeastern Massachusetts (Eck 1990, Thomas 1990).  In the United States, five states produce the nation's cranberries: Massachusetts, New Jersey, Wisconsin -- where the berry is native; and Washington and Oregon -- to which cranberries were introduced from Massachusetts ).  Cranberries also grow in the mountains of Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and as far south as Arkansas.  However, they do not adapt well to commercial cultivation in the warmer climates south of New Jersey (Burrows 1976).
 
    The slender, trailing vines of V. macrocarponform low dense mats across the bog.  The American cranberry is easily identified by its morphology:

Runners -   horizontal vines that spread to lengths  of 4 - 6 feet Uprights -   short, vertical branches no more than 2-6" [5-15 cm] high from which flowers, fruit and new upright shoots develop (Eck 1990).     Roots -  adventitious roots develop from leaf axil of stolon    (runners) when covered by sand  no root hairs  roots have symbiotic associations with mycclium of mycorrhizal fungi

Leaves -   thick and profuse  leathery   small [5-15 mm]   alternate, entire  eliptic-oblong and rounded or blunt-tipped  usually retained for two growing seasons or longer   glossy, deep green in spring and summer  turn dark bronze in the fall and winter.    Flowers -   Bloom May-July  whitish-pink flower on an individual pedicel (stalk)  clusters of 2-6 blossoms.   corolla has four deeply-lobed petals (6-10 mm long) strongly reflexed -- petals curve back upon themselves to expose the eight stamens that surround the pistil.

copyright: M.Salett 1998

copyright: M. Salett 1998

Berries -  bright red  1 -  2 cm long  borne on long pedicil  persist through the winter
	Cherry	Bugle	Bell

     In addition to Vaccinium macrocarpon,the American cranberry, a second species, Vaccinium oxycoccus, small or European cranberry, is native to North American peatlands, but is not cultivated.   V. oxycoccus also grows in Europe and Asia.   A careful observer can easily distinguish between the two species in the wild.  V. macrocarpon has larger leaves, flowers and berries.  Flowers of V.  oxycoccus arise from a solitary, terminal axis -- the tip of the stem; flowers of V. macrocarpon are scattered laterally  along the stem ( Hyland and Hoisington 1981).  The two species are close cousins but do not hybridize because V. macrocarponis a diploid species andV. oxycoccus is tetraploid (Sandler 1997).   A more distant cranberry species, Vaccinium vitis-idaeaL. is most-widely distributed from temperate to alpine and subarctic regions of North America and Europe.  V. vitis-idaea is gathered in Europe where it is known as the lingonberry.