~~I'm Just organising sources here!!! Not really sure how public a sandbox is but in case anyone is able to happen upon this page- As it stands it is plagiarism soup at the moment! I just need to work on my actual job and cant resume this until the weekend! ~~ 

Kelly of Carolina/sandbox

Apparently Secure (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Gaylussacia
Species:
G. bigeloviana
Binomial name
Gaylussacia bigeloviana
Synonyms[2]
  • Gaylussacia dumosa var. bigeloviana Fernald 1911

Gaylussacia bigeloviana (bog huckleberry, also called "Northern Dwarf Huckleberry" or "Gaylussaquier de Bigelow" in French), is a shrub species native to the coastal plains of eastern Canada and the eastern United States.

Description

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From NYNHP[3]

- is a perennial, low-growing (.1 to .5 m tall) shrub, spreading by long woody rhizomes. The leaves are entire, dark shiny green, deciduous, and 2-4 cm long, with shiny resin dots - Like their cousins the blueberries, the fruits are edible but they only have 10 seeds instead of hundreds and there are glandular hairs on the surface. They lose their juiciness later in the summer so it's best to taste them right after they ripen.

From Nova Scotia Wild Floral Society[4] -

- deciduous woody shrubs

- leaves are simple, entire and dotted with resinous glands leaf margins are finely frilled and there is a distinct mucronate leaf tip. ("The midrib appears to extend beyond the tip of the leaf.").

- The fruit is covered with short hairs, and is black and sweet when mature.

From NC Biodiversity Project [5]

- The flowers, slightly larger than those of G. dumosa, are dangling and white to pink-tinged, more bell-shaped (open in the mouth) than are the narrower urn-shaped flowers of most ericaceous species - it may grow in extensive stands.""

From Notes on the Gaylussacia dumosa complex[6]

-Typically between 0.4-1.0 meter height though rarely seen as small as 0.2 meters.

- Leaves Sessile glands on top, dense leaf margin hairs

- distinctly longer corollas than the other taxa with which it shares regional distribution.

From eFloras[7]

- Leaves - Small ( 2-4 × 1-2 cm) shiny dark green on top, Light green underside oblanceolate to obovate,

Habitat and distribution

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It grows from Newfoundland to South Carolina in swamps and marshes, including acidic bogs alongside Sphagnum peatmosses.[8][7][6]


From Nova Scotia Wild Floral Society[4] - Can Site W&S 2007[7]

"" A coastal plain species, its range is eastern North America in states and provinces near the coast from Newfoundland south to Deleware, with disjunct ppulations in North Carolina and South Carolina.""

From Notes on the Gaylussacia dumosa complex[6]

Gaylussacia bigeloviana inhabits peat bogs, sphagnum-shrub bogs, and boggy red maple (Acer rubrum L.)-Atlantic white cedar swamps. It may also occur in disturbed habitats (roadside scrapes, borrow pits) that superficially appear dry at some seasons, but which are underlain by high water tables. In North Carolina, G. bigeloviana occurs in several large pocosins, In South Carolina, G. bigeloviana inhabits a seepage wetland dominated by Atlantic white cedar. Gaylussacia bigeloviana is distributed on the Atlantic seaboard from Newfoundland south to Delaware, disjunct to North and South Carolina.

From NYNHP[3]

This is the only one of our three huckleberries that likes its feet wet

Conservation and management

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According to NatureServe, the species' conservation status is currently G4G5 (rounded G4) however it has not been reviewed since 1994[1] (prior to G. bigeloviana being elevated to species rank)[6]. More recently updated State/Provincial Statuses demonstrate wide variances with Nova Scotia (S5); New Brunswick, and Massachusetts (S4) reporting secure status while Newfoundland (S3S4); Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Connecticut, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island (S2); New York (S1S2); South Carolina (S1) and Delaware (SH) all reporting at-risk status.

From NYNHP[3]

Protect the wetlands where this plant occurs by establishing buffers to conserve hydrology and prevent direct impact to the plants. Remove any threat by phragmites or purple loosestrife. If the wetland opening is artificial, continue to keep it open by preventing succession without directly impacting the plants Some plants occur along roadsides or in powerlines that may be threatened by improper maintenance techniques that destroy the plants. Succession may also threaten some populations that are in open habitats

References

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  1. ^ a b NatureServe. "Gaylussacia bigeloviana Northern Dwarf Huckleberry: NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 2021-08-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "Gaylussacia bigeloviana (Fernald) Sorrie & Weakley". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew – via The Plant List. Note that this website has been superseded by World Flora Online
  3. ^ a b c New York Natural Heritage Program. 2021. Online Conservation Guide for Gaylussacia bigeloviana. Available from: https://guides.nynhp.org/northern-dwarf-huckleberry/. Accessed August 5, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society (16 Feb 2009). "Ericaceae: Gaylussacia bigeloviana (Fernald) Sorrie & Weakley (bog huckleberry)". versicolor.ca. Retrieved 9 August 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ LeGrand, H.; Sorrie, B.; Howard, T. (2021). "Account for Bog Huckleberry- Gaylussacia bigeloviana (Fernald) Sorrie & Weakley".Vascular Plants of North Carolina [Web]. Raleigh (NC): North Carolina Biodiversity Project and North Carolina State Parks. Available from https://auth1.dpr.ncparks.gov/flora/index.php.
  6. ^ a b c d Sorrie, Bruce A.; Weakley, Alan S. (2007). "Notes on the Gaylussacia dumosa complex (Ericaceae)". Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. 1 (1): 333–344 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  7. ^ a b c Sorrie, Bruce A.; Weakley, Alan S.; Tucker, Gordon C. (2009). "Gaylussacia bigeloviana". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 8. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press – via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  8. ^ "Gaylussacia bigeloviana". State-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.