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Vaccinium

L. (1753)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Asterids Order: Ericales Family: Ericaceae Genus: Vaccinium

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Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Terrestrial or epiphytic shrubs, lianas, or small trees.

Stems:

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Surfaces glabrous or pubescent with glandular hairs; usually evergreen, sometimes deciduous, coriaceous to subcoriaceous, sometimes thin. Petiolate or sometimes sessile. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in axillary racemes, sometimes solitary. Flowers bisexual (perfect); pedicels articulated or continuous with the calyx tube, sometimes bracteolate. Calyx (4)5-lobed, the tube cup-shaped to turbinate, the lobes divided to various degrees, imbricate in bud, persistent. Corolla tubular, urceolate, or subglobose, (4)5-lobed, the lobes imbricate in bud. Stamens (8)10(12); filaments inserted at the outer margin of the disk or near the base of corolla tube; anthers ± awned, dithecal, opening by a terminal pore or an introrse slit; anther sacs with tubules of various lengths, becoming inverted during development so that the morphological base is the apparent apex. Pollen borne in tetrads. Ovary inferior, (4)5– celled or rarely falsely 8–10-celled, placentation axile; ovules usually numerous; stigma wet, obtuse; style 1, hollow, the cavity fluted in alignment with the cells.

Fruit: Berries apex sometimes crowned with a persistent calyx. Seeds few to numerous; ellipsoid; irregularly compressed; seed coat smooth; thin; endosperm present; firm–fleshy; well–developed; oily and proteinaceous.

Ploidy:

Habitat:

Elevation Range:

Historical Distribution

Images

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Uses and Culture

USES

  • Fruits eaten (Handy et al. 1972:235).

  • To treat stomach pains, ‘eha naholo i loko o ka opu or mahikihiki, the ‘ōhelo leaf buds, leaves and fruit are combined with and the leaf buds and leaves of maunaloa (Canavalia cathartica or Dioclea wilsonii), pawale leaf buds, leaves, and fruit (Rumex spp.), ‘ōolena root (Curcuma longa), niu (coconut, Cocos nucifera), and kōkea (white sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum) by pounding into a mash. The mixture is strained with ‘ahu‘awa (Cyperus javanicus) and drunk once in the morning and again in the evening (Chun 1994:223-224).

CULTURE

  • Mai hahaki ‘oe i ka ‘‘ōhelo o punia i ka ua noe. Do not pluck the ‘‘ōhelo berries lest we be surrounded by rain and fog. A warning not to do anything that would result in trouble. It is kapu to pluck ‘‘ōhelo berries on the way to the crater of Kilauea. To do so would cause the rain and fog to come and one would lose his way. It is permissible to pick them at the crater if the first ‘ōhelo is tossed into the fire of Pele. Then, on the homeward way, one may pick as he pleases.

Natural History

Island Status

Dispersal Agents


Pollinators

Bibliography

Name Published In: Sp. Pl.: 349 (1753)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Locality Habitat Basis of Record Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
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