BACK to Plant Index
BACK to Plant Index
Lowbush Blueberry
(Vaccinium angustifolium )
A native plant.
This little blueberry is much appreciated by people who know it. Grown commercially in large fields in Maine the little berry is big business.
This plant makes good ground cover in acid soils. It will grow in the woods (like the one in this photo) or in sunny fields. The foliage turns a nice scarlet in the fall.
The plants in our school garden came from my woods where I encourage them for the birds who enjoy the fruit.
The following is from What's Cooking Down in Maine. The author, Clarence Roux, remembers vacations in Maine as a child.....
"Blueberries are the most versatile of berries and in Maine they are all over the place - sweet, juicy with a wild flavor no cultivated berry can ever attain. A dish of them covered with thick cream is not only a happy breakfast sarter but a much-to-be-desired dessert for other meals.
I can remember picking them in Clarendon Bibber's fields. Mother paid me a nickel a quart, and most summers we's have all we wanted for pies and cakes and muffns as well as innumerable quarts, packed in glass jars and sent home for winter enjoyment. ...
Of all the blueberry confections, the pie was - and still is - my favorite. A pie made of Maine blueberries picked the same morning, is one of the noblest culinary creations there is...."
Study Pointers:
- Keep checking for flowers in the spring. When you spot some buds compare this Lowbush specie to the Highbush one. Are they going to bloom at the same time? Check the flowers. Are they the same? Later, compare the berries.
- After doing all that. what do you think? Do you think you could have guessed these two plants were related?
- Make a quick list of things they have in common and another of how they differ.
to the Highbush Blueberry page to the Creeping Blueberry page
to Schoolyard Habitat Index
to Waddell School Introduction Page
to What's New! at the school
This site designed and maintained by Emma Craib
who welcomes your
comments and suggestions !
