Blueberries
|
|
Blueberries
|
|
 |
 |
 |
.jpg) |
Most everyone has eaten a tasty blueberry, either freshly picked or from the grocery store. But, did you know that blueberries can be purple, white, and almost black? Blueberry fruits are classified botanically as berries(a fleshy fruit with one or more thin walled seeds). |
|
|
| In some parts of the United States, blueberries are called huckleberries. But, in the eastern part of the USA, huckleberries are wild relatives of blueberries with much larger seeds than the cultivated blueberries. The cultivated blueberry is an interestering plant that has with more than two sets of chromosomes. Having more than two sets of chromosomes is called "polyploidy" and is frequent in many plant species. The polypoidy blueberries that we eat are larger, taller, and have larger fruits than their diploid relatives. However, they aren't always better tasting! |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Huckleberries belong to a different group than the
grocery store variety blueberry (genus Vaccinium). The scientific name
of huckleberries is Gaylussacia and most of the species in this group
actually grow in Brazil!
|
|
|
|
back to homepage
|
|
.jpg)
