Editing Vaccinium vitis-idaea (section)

==Description==
''Vaccinium vitis-idaea'' spreads by [[rhizome|underground stems]] to form dense [[clonal colony|clonal colonies]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vaccinium vitis-idaea {{!}} Landscape Plants {{!}} Oregon State University |url=https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/vaccinium-vitis-idaea |access-date=2024-11-02 |website=landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu}}</ref> Slender and brittle [[root]]s grow from the underground stems. The stems are rounded in cross-section and grow from {{convert|10|to|40|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} in height. Leaves grow [[phyllotaxis#Leaf arrangement|alternately]] and are oval, {{convert|5|-|30|mm|in|abbr=on|frac=8}} long, with a slightly wavy margin, and sometimes with a notched tip.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

The [[flower]]s are bell-shaped, white to pale pink, {{convert|3|-|8|mm|in|abbr=on|frac=8}} long.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bunney |first=Sarah |title=The illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs and their Medicinal and Culinary Uses |publisher=Dorset Press |year=1984 |isbn=0-88029-774-3 |edition=2nd |location=New York |pages=292}}</ref> ''V.&nbsp;vitis-idaea'' begins to produce flowers from five to ten years of age.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Ritchie |first=J. C. |date=1955 |title=Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea L. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2257030 |journal=Journal of Ecology |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=701–708 |doi=10.2307/2257030 |jstor=2257030 |bibcode=1955JEcol..43..701R |issn=0022-0477}}</ref> They are pollinated by multiple insect species, including ''[[Andrena lapponica]]'' and several species of [[bumblebee]].<ref name=":0" />

The fruit is a red [[berry (botany)|berry]] {{convert|6|-|10|mm|in|abbr=on|frac=8}} across, with an acidic taste, ripening in late summer to autumn.<ref name="FNA">Flora of North America: [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200016732 ''Vaccinium vitis-idaea'']</ref> While bitter early in the season, they sweeten if left on the branch through winter.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Niering |first1=William A. |author-link1=William Niering| last2=Olmstead |first2=Nancy C. |title=The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Eastern Region |year=1985 |orig-year=1979|publisher=Knopf |isbn=0-394-50432-1 |page=510}}</ref> Cytology is 2n = 24.<ref name="y832">{{cite journal | last=Redpath | first=Lauren E. | last2=Aryal | first2=Rishi | last3=Lynch | first3=Nathan | last4=Spencer | first4=Jessica A. | last5=Hulse-Kemp | first5=Amanda M. | last6=Ballington | first6=James R. | last7=Green | first7=Jaimie | last8=Bassil | first8=Nahla | last9=Hummer | first9=Kim | last10=Ranney | first10=Thomas | last11=Ashrafi | first11=Hamid | title=Nuclear DNA contents and ploidy levels of North American Vaccinium species and interspecific hybrids | journal=Scientia Horticulturae | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=297 | year=2022 | issn=0304-4238 | doi=10.1016/j.scienta.2022.110955 | page=110955| doi-access=free }}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
Image:Vaccinium vitis-idaea L..jpg|19th-century illustration
File:Vaccinium vitis-idaea (flowering).jpg|Flowers
Image:Vaccinium vitisidaea flower.jpg|Flowers and young shoots
File:Vaccinium vitis-idaea and Empetrum nigrum 20230823.jpg|''V. vitis-idaea'' and ''[[Empetrum nigrum]]'' in [[Denali National Park]]
File:Tyttebær.jpg|Ripe lingonberries
</gallery>

=== Related species ===
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2024}}

''Vaccinium vitis-idaea'' differs from the related [[cranberries]] in having white flowers with petals partially enclosing the stamens and stigma, rather than pink flowers with petals reflexed backwards, and rounder, less pear-shaped berries.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}} ''[[Vaccinium oxycoccos]]'' is similar.<ref name="tktimb">{{Cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VLbAAwAAQBAJ |title=Trees & Shrubs of the Pacific Northwest |last2=Kuhlmann |first2=Ellen |date=2014 |publisher=[[Timber Press]] |isbn=978-1-60469-263-1 |edition=1st |location=Portland, OR |pages=184}}</ref>

[[Hybrid plant|Hybrids]] between ''Vaccinium vitis-idaea'' and ''[[Vaccinium myrtillus|V. myrtillus]]'', named ''Vaccinium × intermedium'' [[Johann Friedrich Ruthe|Ruthe]], are occasionally found in Europe.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}