Vaccinium oxycoccos L. (Ericaceae), forma (Finland, Vantaa, Riipilä, 2000). – Image: Harri Harmaja (scanned from dried specimen). – This form of the cranberry is striking as the shape of its leaves is ellipsoid instead of the normal ovate or ellipsoid-ovate. I have found it on some occasions in southern Finland in the company of typical plants (the latter displaying a somewhat variable leaf size). The ellipsoid-leaved form possibly avoids the most oligotrophic habitats where ovate-leaved plants thrive as well. I have not found mentions about this form in the literature. V. oxycoccos is known to consist of three sympatric cytotypes (tetraploid, pentaploid, and hexaploid) in Europe but these hardly differ morphologically and apparently do not deserve to be recognised at any taxonomic level (latest contributions: Suda, J. & Lysák, M. A. 2001: A taxonomic study of the Vaccinium sect. Oxycoccus (Hill) W.D.J.Koch (Ericaceae) in the Czech Republic and adjacent territories. – Folia Geobot. 36: 303-320, and Suda, J. 2003: Sympatric occurrences of various cytotypes of Vaccinium sect. Oxycoccus (Ericaceae) – Nordic J. Botany 22: 593-601.). However, the hexaploid plants may be somewhat larger in their different parts than those with a lower ploidy level.
Created August 6, 2004.