Vaccinium cespitosumMichx.

dwarf bilberry

WFO wfo-0001046864 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Vaccinium cespitosum, photographed by Victor Hooper
fig. a Victor Hooper, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-10-06 / obs. 162013420
Vaccinium cespitosum, photographed by Diego Blanco
fig. b Diego Blanco, CC0 1.0 / obs. 156174939
Vaccinium cespitosum, photographed by Diego Blanco
fig. c Diego Blanco, CC0 1.0 / obs. 156175011
Vaccinium cespitosum, photographed by Diego Blanco
fig. d Diego Blanco, CC0 1.0 / obs. 156175019
Vaccinium cespitosum, photographed by dougbrown
fig. e dougbrown, CC0 1.0 / obs. 149083869
Vaccinium cespitosum, photographed by Diego Blanco
fig. f Diego Blanco, CC0 1.0 / obs. 148692537
Vaccinium cespitosum, photographed by Diego Blanco
fig. g Diego Blanco, CC0 1.0 / obs. 148693009
Vaccinium cespitosum, photographed by Christine Braaten
fig. h Christine Braaten, CC0 1.0 / obs. 149366103

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 30 botanical countries

Regions where Vaccinium cespitosum is native: Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Idaho, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Mexico Northeast, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Oregon, Québec, Saskatchewan, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yukon AlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoIdahoLabradorMaineManitobaMexico NortheastMichiganMinnesotaMontanaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew MexicoNew YorkNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaNunavutOntarioOregonQuébecSaskatchewanVermontWashingtonWisconsinWyomingYukon
Native distribution of Vaccinium cespitosum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Idaho IDA
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Mexico Northeast MXE
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Nunavut NUN
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Québec QUE
Saskatchewan SAS
Vermont VER
Washington WAS
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 42 in flower of 117 examined

Peak flowering in Jun. Each bar is the share of Vaccinium cespitosum observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 42 of 117 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 7 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 8 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Vaccinium arbuscula (A.Gray) Merriam
  • Vaccinium caespitosum var. angustifolium A.Gray
  • Vaccinium caespitosum var. arbuscula A.Gray
  • Vaccinium caespitosum var. caespitosum
  • Vaccinium caespitosum var. cuneifolium Nutt.
  • Vaccinium caespitosum var. paludicola (Camp) Hultén
  • Vaccinium nivictum Camp
  • Vaccinium paludicola Camp

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol VACE. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.